KENOSHA, Wisc. (NBC) – More protests in Wisconsin came with police in riot gear, burned vehicles and shootings. This, after police shot a Black man multiple times in the back this past weekend. The man’s family is now speaking out about the shooting and his condition.
Authorities cleared the streets after reports of gunshots. Police say at least two people are dead one person injured.
Hours earlier, the governor declared a state of emergency, mobilizing more National Guard members. But protesters ignored a curfew and authorities deployed tear gas. This is the third straight night of violent protest here and this community is on edge.
Kenosha resident Tenoch Martinez said, “This is pathetic for… to happen in our country and in the state of Wisconsin, and it’s just anarchists going around taking advantage of the situation”.
The chaos came despite Jacob Blake’s family pleading for peaceful protests. His father, Jacob Lake Sr., said, “They shot my son seven times, seven times like he didn’t matter. But my son matters.”
His family is now demanding the officers involved in Sunday’s shooting be fired and the one who shot Blake in the back be arrested.
Zietha Blake is Jacob’s sister. She said, “He was not treated like a human that day. He was treated like some foreign object that didn’t belong.”
His family now says the 29-year-old’s spinal cord is severed and that he’s paralyzed from the waist down, though doctors aren’t sure it’s permanent.
Blake’s mother told NBC she’d last spoken to Jacob Sunday morning as he prepared to celebrate his son’s eighth birthday. The boy was in the backseat when his father was shot.
The Justice Department is now assisting state authorities with the investigation.
Wisconsin’s Department of Justice says the officers are on administrative leave and “fully cooperating.”
Kenosha police officers do not wear body cameras, but the Blake family wants any dash cam footage or any other video of the incident released.
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