The man who was shot by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will be paralyzed from the waist down according to his father. 29 year-old, Jacob Blake, was shot in broad daylight in front of his children as he walked away from officers and reached into his vehicle. He was shot 8 times.
The entire incident was captured on video and now been viewed many millions of times online. Early reports indicate that officers were called to a domestic incident and the video shows officers training their guns on Mr. Blake. The officers can be heard shouting 'Drop the knife, drop the knife' but Mr. Blake walks away and opens his vehicle to reach inside. He is then shot in the back by the pursuing officer.
While Blake did not have a knife on his person, the Wisconsin Attorney General has said that he did have one in his car, the reasons for this are as yet unknown. A later video has also shown that Blake had been involved in a scuffle with police officers but had managed to break free, it is then that officers trained guns on him.
His father, also called Jacob, spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times, he said:
"I want to put my hand on my son's cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I'll be OK. I'll kiss him with my mask. The first thing I want to do is touch my son. What justified all those shots? What justified doing that in front of my grandsons? What are we doing?"
When he was shot there were three young children in the back of the car who witnessed the whole thing. The incident was also witnessed by Laquisha Booker, who spoke to WTMJ, she said:
"That man just literally grabbed him by his shirt and looked the other way and was just shooting him. With the kids in the back screaming, screaming."
Since the incident occurred, the streets of Wisconsin have seen large scale protests and incidents of rioting. On Tuesday evening, 2 people were shot dead and a third was injured when an armed individual, appearing to be part of a militia type outfit, fired on protestors. A video shows the individual being chased down the street and firing from what appears to be an AR-15 assault rifle.
17 year-old, Kyle Rittenhouse, of Illinois, has been charged with murder, his online social media profiles show that he was a law-enforcement enthusiast and spoke out against Black Lives Matter protests.
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