Journal Sentinel reporters are in Kenosha in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot in the back multiple times by police Sunday.
Shortly before midnight Tuesday, things turned violent again when two people were killed and 1 other injured during ongoing protests. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested Wednesday and charged in connection to the killings. Check back for updates as the story continues to develop.
RELATED: 'He was not treated like a human that day': Family of Jacob Blake, now paralyzed, speaks out on police shooting
RELATED: Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with intentional and reckless homicide in Kenosha protest shootings
PREVIOUS UPDATES: Updates from Aug. 27
Saturday, 3:30 p.m.: Thousands march in Kenosha with Blake family, state leaders
Thousands of people gathered in Kenosha on Saturday to march down Sheridan Road towards the county courthouse, where protests have centered for much of the last week.
The march included speeches from the sister and father of Jacob Blake, 29, who was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha place on Aug. 23. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes also addressed the crowd.
Speaking from a microphone outside the courthouse, Blake's father, also named Jacob Blake, asked the Kenosha Police Department, "what gives you the right to treat my son like an animal?"
He implored the crowd to stay peaceful after the rally and to also vote in the upcoming November election.
“we’re going to make legislation happen because that’s all that they recognize.”
- Elliot Hughes
7:15 p.m.: Kyle Rittenhouse's legal team says he acted in self-defense
The legal team representing Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged with intentional homicide and reckless homicide in the fatal shootings of two people during protests Tuesday in Kenosha, says he was defending himself from a "mob" of attackers.
In a release issued by the law firm Pierce Bainbridge, his lawyers say they will fight the charges and take the case to trial if need be.
The release says that before the shootings, Rittenhouse was "accosted," "verbally threatened and taunted" by "rioters" Tuesday night while guarding a mechanic’s shop along Sheridan Road with a group of armed men.
More: Kyle Rittenhouse, charged in Kenosha protest homicides, considered himself militia
The release says "rioters" at one point started chasing Rittenhouse. He was being chased when he heard a gunshot behind him. The release says he turned and was faced with "an attacker lunging towards him and reaching for his rifle."
According to the criminal complaint, 26-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum was shot, fatally, several times while unarmed.
Rittenhouse's legal team argues he was justified in firing his weapon to protect himself.
The release goes on to describe "a growing mob" that chased Rittenhouse down the street until he fell down. The people chasing him "kicked" him and "bashed him over the head with a skateboard."
The criminal complaint describes that a crowd followed Rittenhouse, with people shouting "get him!" and saying he had just shot someone. Several people tried to disarm Rittenhouse, including 26-year-old Anthony Huber, who was holding a skateboard in his right hand and reached for the teen's gun with his other hand.
"In fear for his life and concerned the crowd would either continue to shoot at him or even use his own weapon against him, Kyle had no choice but to fire multiple rounds towards his immediate attackers," the release says.
Rittenhouse's legal team says he turned himself in to police in Antioch and fully cooperated with law enforcement.
- Sarah Volpenhein
6:45 p.m.: Zuckerberg says Facebook should have taken down event that encouraged armed people to go to Kenosha
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg addressed employees Friday and said the “Armed Citizens to Protect our Lives and Property” event, hosted by the Kenosha Guard on Tuesday night, was in violation of policies and should have been removed.
He also shared the video on Facebook.
Facebook received complaints about the event, but contractors and other reviewers did not recognize that it was in violation, he said.
Now 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, shown in videos from Tuesday night hanging out with older armed men and saying his job was to protect businesses and people, has been charged with homicide after two protesters were shot to death.
Teams at Facebook are now proactively looking for contact that praises the shooting and removing it, Zuckerberg said.
Facebook also investigated events and "pieces of content" connected to Kenosha this week. Zuckerberg said there was no evidence that Rittenhouse responded to the event on Facebook or had interaction with the Kenosha Guard group.
After designating the event as a mass murder, Facebook removed Rittenhouse's Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Zuckerberg led the meeting by speaking about Kenosha police shooting Jacob Blake on Sunday.
"The juxtaposition of seeing Jacob Blake kind of facing away from police and being shot, next to images of this white kid with a long gun strapped to his body, walking by the police with nothing happening, I think just kind of symbolizes what we all feel is wrong and unjust and just how much progress still needs to be made."
5:05 p.m.: United Nations weighs in on Kenosha shootings
The Jacob Blake shooting has gotten the attention of international government officials.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, Switzerland, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights addressed the shootings in Kenosha on Friday.
Rupert Colville called the incident a "painful reminder of how African-Americans continue to be exposed to differentiated and heightened risk, when engaging with law enforcement bodies in the United States.
"This really tragic episode reaffirms the need to urgent action to eradicate linkages between structural racism and policing," he said.
He added that lax gun control measures in the United States created a laboratory for the shootings two nights later, when two protesters were killed and a third injured by a 17-year-old shooter from Illinois.
"It should be inconceivable that you have a 17-year-old running around with an automatic rifle."
— JR Radcliffe
4:15 p.m.: Sheriff says he still hasn't seen Jacob Blake shooting video
At the close of a Friday press conference, Kenosha County Sheriff David G. Beth said he hadn't seen the video of Kenosha police shooting Blake in the back multiple times, the event that paralyzed Blake the waist down, according to his family, and led to days of unrest in the city.
He didn't answer when asked if he thought it was a problem that he hadn't seen the widely circulated video of the shooting recorded by a bystander.
He and Kenosha police chief Daniel Miskinis also discussed the factors that led to law enforcement not apprehending Kyle Rittenhouse immediately. Another detail: There are now more than 1,000 members of the National Guard in Kenosha.
Read the full story.
— Alison Dirr
4:02 p.m. Packers players expound on tweeted frustration with Kenosha PD
Packers safety Adrian Amos and linebacker Christian Kirksey expounded on their tweeted frustrations with the comments made by Kenosha police chief Daniel Miskinis on Wednesday in a press conference.
Miskinis suggested that the shootings of two protesters Tuesday could have been avoided if the victims had adhered to the curfew.
"Everybody involved was out after the curfew," Miskinis said. "I'm not going to make a great deal of it, but the point is the curfew is in place to protect. Had persons not been out in violation if that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened."
"People like this in positions of power are a problem," Amos tweeted. "Two people are killed by a random teenager with an AR and you are talking about curfew."
Kirskey added in a tweet, "Are you serious? Chief Miskinis, how can u stand up and say this? You're apart of the problem. Point, blank, period."
“I feel as though just like when I’m speaking right now, I have the G behind me and I’m representing the Packers," Amos said Friday. "There’s a standard that comes with that and when I speak I represent them. Him a police chief, he represents the police force, he also has a wide audience that is looking and watching. I feel as though that was insensitive to basically disregard the people were killed by making those statements just on them.
"Two people died, and you’re focuses on whether people were out past curfew. I feel as though there was another way to handle that. It could be addressed to why it was against the law for the man to be there in the first place.”
Kirksey also had a lot more to say.
"I was highly disappointed," he said. "Being a leader, there’s certain things that you cannot say. With his words and the curfew and things that probably shouldn’t have been said to the media, as far as if people weren’t (out) past curfew, then the shootings may not have occurred. I think that’s a slap in the face. You can’t blame the victim. You can’t do that. You have to be cautious of who’s watching you. You’ve got people’s parents, of the people who died, that are watching you. You’ve got to be sensitive to how they feel about that.
"You don’t go around and say, if something was to happen to a young lady, you can’t say, 'If she wasn’t at this particular party, then that wouldn’t have happened to her.' Or, 'If she wasn’t wearing this certain outfit, things wouldn’t have happened to her.' You don’t go around saying things like that. ... So what is the message you’re giving other people, that a kid who came in and outright killed people, and you say if they weren’t past curfew, then things wouldn’t have happened. That’s a slap in the face."
— Jim Owczarski and JR Radcliffe
3:01 p.m. Shackles removed from Blake, officers leave hospital room
Handcuffs restraining Jacob Blake have been removed and the sheriff's deputies stationed in his room have left after his attorney arranged a bail payment, according to the attorney and the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office.
Blake was restrained because he was in custody for a July warrant related to a domestic violence charge.
His attorney in the case, Patrick Cafferty, confirmed the warrant was vacated earlier Friday after $500 bail was posted. The criminal case remains open.
"The charges are still pending and we will be dealing with those," Cafferty told the Journal Sentinel.
Family members and attorneys said Blake was paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot seven times in the back by police on Sunday.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office released a statement confirming that Blake was released from police custody Friday and that deputies watching Blake have left his room.
"MCSO worked very closely with the hospital and Mr. Blake’s legal team to ensure a safe and dignified environment for Mr. Blake, consistent with best law enforcement and hospital practices for security and visitation," the statement reads.
— JR Radcliffe and Sophie Carson
2:35 p.m.: Miskinis defends law enforcement who didn't apprehend Rittenhouse
Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis said Friday he doesn’t think it was a lapse in judgment for police officers to drive by the 17-year-old charged in the fatal shootings of two protesters and the wounding of a third Tuesday night.
“The totality of the circumstances, nothing suggested this person or anybody else who was armed around them was the person,” Miskinis said at a Friday afternoon press conference.
He said with other noise, including from the police radio, officers would have been “very unlikely” to have heard yelling from the crowd that 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse had shot people.
Homicide charges were filed Thursday in Kenosha County against Rittenhouse, a resident of Antioch, Illinois.
“There were a lot of people in the area, a lot of people with weapons and, unfortunately, a lot of gunfire,” Miskinis said. “So what the officers were … driving into in this case was a ‘shots fired’ complaint, not a shooting, not a ‘person down’ complaint.”
He said Rittenhouse walking toward police after the shooting with his hands up wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary in that situation.
And while that behavior might have been abnormal two weeks ago, it no longer is, Miskinis said.
On a recording Miskinis heard, officers were telling Rittenhouse to get out of the way.
“Clearly they’re not seeing him as a suspect or a threat of any kind,” Miskinis said. “He’s allowed to leave, where he goes to Antioch and turns himself in because we have no idea that he’s involved.”
The officers, he said, were focused on what they see down the road.
Read the full story,
— Alison Dirr
1:56 p.m.: Should Biden and Harris visit Kenosha? One state Democrat says no
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Wisconsin leaders criticized President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s remarks during the Republican National Convention and their handling of racial justice issues, during a call with reporters on Friday.
“During this past week at the Republican convention, it was rather Orwellian watching Vice President Pence say… ‘you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,’” Pocan said. “Does this guy understand who’s in charge right now? Donald Trump and Mike Pence are the folks who are in charge of this country” during a time of deaths from COVID-19, protests, and economic difficulty.
Politico reported on Thursday that Biden may visit Wisconsin sometime after Labor Day. When asked by a reporter if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should visit Kenosha specially, in light of the shooting of Jacob Blake and unrest in the city, Pocan said that he appreciated Biden’s “powerful (recent) statement” on Kenosha but thinks that if Biden and Harris came to Kenosha now, it could cause crowds and the spread of COVID-19.
Another speaker, Wisconsin Farmers Union president Darin Von Ruden, responded to claims made during the Republican National Convention that Wisconsin dairy farms are booming thanks to Trump.
“We’re losing a farm and a half a day… dairy farms (in Wisconsin). Since President Trump took office, we’ve lost 2,255 dairy farms in the state of Wisconsin alone,” Von Ruden said.
— Oren Oppenheim
1:53 p.m.: Blake and Acevedo families speaks in Washington, D.C.
The families of Jacob Blake and Joel Acevedo spoke at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s March on Washington Friday alongside other families of victims of police violence.
Blake’s sister, Letetra Widman, called on “Black America” to unify and stand up to the “genocide” of Black men in the country.
“We will not be a footstool to oppression,” she said. “You must stand, you must fight, but not with violence and chaos.”
She called on Black women to be their “brother’s keeper;” Black children to “read, learn, grow, and live, and question everything” and Black men to stand up and educate themselves.
Blake’s father, also named Jacob Blake, said his father attended the 1963 March on Washington.
“There are two systems of justice in the United States.There’s a white system and there's a Black system. The Black system ain’t doing so well,” he said.
“I’m tired of looking at cameras and seeing these young black and brown people suffer,” he said.
Also speaking at the march was the father of Joel Acevedo, who died after Milwaukee police officer Micahel Mattioli put him in a chokehold during a fight at the off-duty officer's house.
Jose Acevedo wore a mask emblazoned with an image of his son and “#JoelsLifeMattered.”
“Joel Acevedo did not deserve to die,” he told the crowd.
B’Ivory Lamarr, the attorney representing the families of both Acevedo and Blake, said the pattern of police violence in America will be put to a stop.
“2020 is the year that America is going to be put on timeout,” he said. “This is the last season of the police version of ‘How to Get Away with Murder.’”
Lamarr also thanked the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA, the MLB and the celebrities that have used their platform to speak out about racism.
Read the full story.
— Sophie Carson
1:31 p.m.: Kenosha police union attorney issues several statements about what transpired in Blake shooting
Kenosha Police Association attorney Brendan P. Matthews and the union representing the involved officers released a lengthy statement aiming to correct the record about facts related to the Jacob Blake shooting.
"The recent officer-involved shooting in Kenosha has produced a variety of feelings and narratives; most of which are wholly inaccurate," the release said. "The purely fictional depiction of events coming from those without direct knowledge of what actually occurred is incredibly harmful and provides no benefit to anyone whatsoever, other than to perpetuate a misleading narrative.The lawyers for Mr. Blake, among others, have continued to provide false and misleading 'facts' to the public, in what can only be considered a ploy for attention and sympathy."
Matthews goes on to say that even the Wisconsin Department of Justice incident update into the investigation has inaccuracies.
These were Matthews' points:
- The officers were dispatched to the location due to a complaint that Mr. Blake was attempting to steal the caller’s keys/vehicle.
- Officers were aware of Mr. Blake’s open warrant for felony sexual assault (3rd degree) before they arrived on scene.
- Mr. Blake was not breaking up a fight between two females when officers arrived on scene.
- The silver SUV seen in the widely circulated video was not Mr. Blake’s vehicle.
- Mr. Blake was not unarmed. He was armed with a knife. The officers did not see the knife initially. The officers first saw him holding the knife while they were on the passenger side of the vehicle. The “main” video circulating on the internet shows Mr. Blake with the knife in his left hand when he rounds the front of the car. The officers issued repeated commands for Mr. Blake to drop the knife. He did not comply.
- The officers initially tried to speak with Mr. Blake, but he was uncooperative.
- The officers then began issuing verbal commands to Mr. Blake, but he was non-complaint.
- The officers next went “hands-on” with Mr. Blake, so as to gain compliance and control.
- Mr. Blake actively resisted the officers’ attempt to gain compliance.
- The officers then disengaged and drew their tasers, issuing commands to Mr. Blake that he would be tased if he did not comply.
- Based on his non-compliance, one officer tased Mr. Blake. The taser did not incapacitate Mr. Blake.
- The officers once more went “hands-on” with Mr. Blake; again, trying to gain control of the escalating situation.
- Mr. Blake forcefully fought with the officers, including putting one of the officers in a headlock.
- A second taser (from a different officer than had deployed the initial taser) was then deployed on Mr. Blake. It did not appear to have any impact on him.
- Based on the inability to gain compliance and control after using verbal, physical and less-lethal means, the officers drew their firearms.
- Mr. Blake continued to ignore the officers’ commands, even with the threat of lethal force now present.
Added Matthews, "None of the officers involved wished for things to transpire the way it did. It is my hope that truth and transparency will help begin and aid in the healing process."
The Department of Justice has not confirmed all of the itemized points. Blake's lawyer said eyewitness accounts dispute that Blake held a knife.
UPDATE: From attorney general Josh Kaul: “The Wisconsin Department of Justice is conducting a fair, impartial, and independent investigation into the shooting of Jacob S. Blake. The lawyer who issued this statement represents both the Kenosha Professional Police Association (KPPA) and certain officers involved in the incident. We neither confirm nor deny any conclusions he believes can be drawn based on his representation of those officers and the KPPA."
— JR Radcliffe
1:19 p.m.: Rev. Jesse Jackson calls for Kenosha law enforcement resignations
The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke again Friday, one day after appearing in Kenosha, and called for the resignation of Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth and Kenosha police chief Daniel Miskinis.
The request echoes the statement made by the ACLU on Thursday.
Bishop Tavis Grant, national field director of Rainbow Push Coalition, held a phone to the microphone and identified the speaker on the other line as Kenosha resident Danielle Rossum.
The woman on the call criticized former Alderman Kevin Mathewson, who's been active in the Kenosha Guard militia and was on the streets that night. Leaders of the group had called on their Facebook page for members to come out and protect buildings on the night two protesters were shot and killed, and a third injured.
"It was calling for armed citizens together in the streets as a militia, to protect businesses and homes against rioting and looting," the woman said. "This event grew at an alarming rate. It was reported to Facebook, Facebook failed to take it down until after the event. This is the event the shooter responded to."
She said a friend of hers would be taking legal action against Mathewson.
"We expect him to be held accountable."
Grant pointed out that Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged with homicide, and Trayvon Martin were the same age, 17 years old, when Martin was shot and killed in Florida in 2012.
"It is criminal in every dynamic and every degree," Grant said. "Imagine, if you will, you had Jacob Blake, an African-American in the middle of the night, walking through Milwaukee, walking through Chicago, walking through Kenosha, with a long rifle automatic weapon loaded during a curfew. It should be first and foremost that armed individuals are immediately removed from the streets, at a curfew. This young man was given water, aid and even accepted and received appreciation from sheriff and police officers that night. It is illegal, it is immoral and we have had enough. We want justice for Jacob Blake."
Grant and Jackson also called for greater investigation into the role Rittenhouse's mother played in transporting her son to Kenosha.
"Rittenhouse came to Kenosha for violent purposes," said Jackson, who also replayed the 2018 comments from Beth that were played at Jackson's Thursday press conference. "The gun belongs to his parents, so we will not rest until that matter is put in perspective."
— JR Radcliffe
11:24 a.m.: Milwaukee's Frank Nitty speaks at Washington, D.C. rally
Milwaukee protest organizer Frank “Nitty” Sensabaugh spoke Friday morning at the March on Washington after trekking 750 miles to D.C. in 24 days
He was joined on stage by Sandy Solo of Milwaukee, another activist who marched with the group that numbered about 60 people by the time they crossed into D.C. Friday morning.
“We need to demand change, not ask for change,” he told the crowd gathered at the Lincoln Memorial. “They think this is a negotiation, this is not a negotiation.”
“I’m tired,” Sensabaugh said. “My grandsons ain’t going to be marching for the same stuff my granddaddy marched for.”
“This is it! We’ve been marching for the same stuff for 60 years,” he said.
He asked the attendees to continue marching in their own cities and to vote President Donald Trump out of office in November.
“While we marched these 750 miles, everybody that came and chastised us, everybody that came with shotguns, everybody that came messing with us had Trump signs,” he said. “That’s the new way that they exhibit racism in this country and hide behind it.”
— Sophie Carson
11:19 a.m.: Lawyer representing families in Tosa police shooting representing Kenosha shooting victim
Kimberley Motley, the attorney representing the families of Alvin Cole, Jay Anderson Jr. and Antonio Gonzales — the three people that Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah shot and killed in the line of duty in the last five years — is now representing Gaige Grosskreutz.
Grosskreutz, 26, of West Allis, was shot in the arm by Kyle Rittenhouse Tuesday night during civil unrest over the shooting of Jacob Blake. He is expected to survive but he’s currently receiving medical attention, Motley confirmed in a statement.
“We are resolved to move forward to ensure that all parties who were involved in the Kenosha killings and the circumstances that led to them are held accountable,” Motley said in a statement Friday. “We believe that what occurred was by no means the result of the actions of only one teenaged individual.”
A friend created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his recovery.
Motley was not available for comment Friday.
Read full story.
— Evan Casey
11:08 a.m.: Penzey's to 'loot' its own store in show of support
While the Penzeys Spices store in Kenosha was not damaged during violent protests in the city, its CEO wants to "loot" his own store.
Bill Penzey wrote to customers of his Wauwatosa-based chain of spice shops that he supports the mission behind the protests in Kenosha in response to a police officer shooting Jacob Blake in the back seven times at close range.
"Someone wrote to say that you would be singing a different tune if it was your store being looted," Penzey wrote in the email. "I'm by no means perfect but seriously no, I wouldn't. Human life means everything; stuff, not so much."
Penzey, who is well known for making political statements, asked "What if we looted our own store?"
"What if we took a snapshot of our Kenosha store’s inventory tonight and simply gave away exactly that amount of inventory in the coming weeks?," he wrote. The Kenosha location near the freeway is not near the center of demonstrations near Library Park and the Civic Center Park.
Penzey is now soliciting suggestions for organizations that could benefit from the spice shop "looting." Many have already poured in.
Read the full story.
— Sarah Hauer
11:05 a.m.: Father says Blake cuffed to bed in hospital, organization demands restraints to be removed
CNN and the Chicago Sun-Times were among the outlets to report that Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer on Sunday, was in restraints in the hospital while receiving treatment at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.
Blake's father and attorney had previously said the injuries sustained by his son have left the younger Jacob Blake paralyzed.
"Why do they have that cold steel on my son's ankle?" he asked in an interview with CNN. "He can't get up, he couldn't get up if he wanted to."
"This is an insult to injury," said Justin Blake, his uncle. "He is paralyzed and can't walk and they have him cuffed to the bed. Why?"
The Chicago Sun-Times also quoted Jacob Blake Sr. that his son was handcuffed to the bed.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, demanded Friday that law enforcement authorities end the act of "torture."
“Shackling an unconscious man who cannot walk — as a result of police brutality — to his hospital bed is an act of torture," the release stated. "The use of handcuffs only compounds the injustice done to Mr. Blake and sends the false message that he, not the officer who shot him seven times in the back, poses a danger to society. The shackles on Jacob Blake must be removed, and local authorities must treat him with the respect he deserves as both a medical patient and a human being.”
Gov. Tony Evers also said he's concerned by a report that Blake — who had a warrant issued for his arrest stemming from a domestic case in May — was handcuffed to his hospital bed.
"I have no personal understanding why that would be necessary," Evers said. "Certainly, he's paid a horrific price already."
NBC News correspondent Garrett Haake tweeted Friday from Washington, D.C., that the elder Blake indicated his son was still heavily sedated but did get a chance to talk to players from the Milwaukee Bucks.
9:56 a.m.: Rittenhouse lawyer said gun belonged to a friend
Kyle Rittenhouse did not own the gun or carry the AR-15 across state lines, said a lawyer who is part of a legal team representing the teenager.
"Kyle did not carry a gun across state line," L. Lin Wood said in a tweet Friday morning. "The gun belonged to his friend, a Wisconsin resident. The gun never left the state of Wisconsin." Wood is part of the Texas-based #FightBack Foundation Inc. that is raising money for Rittenhouse's defense.
Rittenhouse is charged in the shooting deaths of two people and wounding of a third during protests in Kenosha Tuesday night. He has been charged with intentional and reckless homicide.
— Sarah Hauer
9:45 a.m.: Rittenhouse will remain in custody in Illinois for now
Kyle Rittenhouse did not appear for an extradition hearing scheduled Friday in Lake County Circuit Court and will remain in Illinois while he faces charges in a deadly shooting during protests in Kenosha.
Rittenhouse requested to waive his presence at the hearing and for more time so that he could hire his own legal team. A hearing on the status of his extradition has been set for Sept. 25 at 9 a.m.
"We also arranged for him to have a phone call with his mother this morning," a representative for Rittenhouse, Jennifer Snyder, said during the proceedings. The hearing took less than 10 minutes.
Rittenhouse was charged Thursday with intentional and reckless homicide in a shooting at a Kenosha protest Tuesday that killed two people and injured a third person. The 17-year-old was charged as an adult under Wisconsin law.
Read the full story.
— Sarah Hauer
9:28 a.m.: Jacob Blake's father tells CNN about chat with Biden, Harris
The father of Jacob Blake, also named Jacob Blake, told CNN that the hour-long conversation he had with Democratic Presidential nominee Joe BIden and running mate Kamala Harris was like "speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters."
"They were so comforting that you almost forgot how the situation was really playing out," Jacob Blake Sr. told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day."
"Biden kept telling me his own issues with his family. That he identifies with what I'm going through. I didn't have to keep telling him. He knew. It felt like he knew," Blake said.
Asked if President Donald Trump has tried to reach out to his family, Jacob Blake Sr. replied: "That's a negative."
8:33 a.m.: Kamala Harris says officer in Blake shooting should be charged
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, a former California attorney general, said Friday that a Kenosha police officer should be charged with a crime based on what she knows about the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Officer Rusten Sheskey fired seven shots into Blake’s back as Blake attempted to get into a vehicle and after two Tasers didn’t stop him from attempting to leave a Kenosha residence, according to the state Department of Justice.
“I believe there should be a thorough investigation, and based on what I’ve seen, it seems that the officer should be charged,” she said in an interview with The Today Show on NBC.
“The man was going to his car. He didn’t appear to be armed. And if he was not armed, the use of force that was seven bullets coming out of a gun at close range in the back of the man, I don’t see how anybody could reason that that was justifiable,” Harris said.
Shesky shot Blake in the back as he opened the driver's side door of an SUV with his children inside. Police were trying to arrest Blake after his girlfriend called them to say he was not supposed to be on the property, according to DOJ.
During the investigation after the incident, Blake admitted to having a knife in his possession and police found one on the floorboard of his vehicle. Harris said Blake’s alleged refusal to comply with police, and the discovery of a knife, warrants due process but suggested it wasn’t enough to warrant firing a gun at close range into Blake’s back.
“Everybody should be afforded due process – I agree with that completely. But here’s the thing, in America we know these cases keep happening. And we have had too many Black men in America who have been the subject of this kind of conduct and it’s got to stop,” she said.
— Molly Beck
7:30 a.m.: Milwaukee marchers arrive in Washington D.C.
After enduring blistered feet, arrests, harassment and a spray of gunfire over the course of weeks, dozens of people marching 750 miles to protest police brutality have arrived at their final destination, the nation's capital, for the anniversary of the March on Washington.
"We’re coming in hot. We’ll be there," said Tory Lowe, a Milwaukee-based victims advocate, on Thursday morning from his hotel room in Maryland, about 60 miles outside D.C. "Right now – for this time in this moment in this country – this walk represents a civil rights march of historic importance."
When Lowe and about 20 other men, women and children first left Milwaukee on Aug. 4, they planned to walk about 30 miles a day through Aug. 28, when thousands of people are expected to attend the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks Commitment March on Washington.
Since they've been gone, the shooting of Jacob Blake in nearby Kenosha has reaffirmed their purpose.
"This march was meant to happen because look what’s happening in the state of Wisconsin," Lowe said. "This is why we’re marching. It brings validation to the fact of why we ever started this march in the first place."
Read the full story.
— Grace Hauck
6:01 a.m.: DOJ says Blake was tased twice, identifies two more officers involved
Before he was shot seven times by Kenosha Police officer Rusten Shesky on Sunday, both Shesky and officer Vincent Arenas used tasers in an attempt to control Jacob Blake, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Neither taser strike was effective.
A third officer on the scene was Brittany Meronek, the release says. All three officers can be seen with their guns drawn in videos of the incident.
Shesky, who shot Blake in the back seven times as he opened the driver's side door of an SUV with his children inside, has been a Kenosha Police officer for seven years, according to DOJ. Arenas has worked for the department since February 2019 after serving previously with the U.S. Capitol Police. Meronek joined the department in January.
Police were trying to arrest Blake after his girlfriend called them to say he was not supposed to be on the property, the release says.
"During the investigation following the initial incident, Mr. Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession," it says. Department of Justice agents "recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Mr. Blake’s vehicle."
No other weapons were found. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons."
—Gina Barton
11:52 p.m.: Small group continues protest, while police arrest some past curfew
A small group continued to protest in downtown Kenosha after curfew during the fifth night of protests. Kenosha's curfew went into effect at 7 p.m. Thursday. After nights of destruction and violence, it was a relatively quiet scene.
Protesters made their way through the streets with stops at Library Park and the Civic Center Park. Livestreams from people on the scene showed some arrests of protesters. It also showed people waiting for friends who were arrested earlier to be released.
Close to midnight a group of less than 50 protesters remained.
—Sarah Hauer
10 p.m. Trump mentions Kenosha unrest in RNC acceptance speech
President Donald Trump emphasized the importance of law and order in places like Kenosha while accepting his party’s nomination for re-election Thursday.
Addressing the nation from the White House on the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention, the president mentioned Kenosha by name, but not Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot in the back by a police officer.
Instead, he suggested that without his presidency, police would be powerless — arguing the election is a decision to "defend the American way of life or let a radical movement to completely dismantle or destroy it."
"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will," Trump said. "But what we can never have in America — and must never allow — is mob rule."
"In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York," Trump said.
Trump and other Republicans have vilified Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers for not accepting initial federal help offered by Trump on Tuesday, just hours before a gunman shot three people on the streets of Kenosha, killing two.
Trump said Thursday voters were deciding whether to protect "law-abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens."
Read the full story.
- Molly Beck, Patrick Marley, Oren Oppenheim
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August 28, 2020 at 08:37PM
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Kenosha updates: Marchers gather in Kenosha; Kyle Rittenhouse's legal team says he acted in self-defense - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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