On Sunday, Kenosha police opened fire on an unarmed Black man.
A graphic video documenting the shooting was posted on social media. The video depicts three police officers shouting and pointing their weapons at the Black man who is seen walking around the front of an SUV, opening the driver’s side door, leaning inside and then being shot seven times in the back. It is unclear if the shots came from one or multiple officers.
The man was transported to a hospital in Milwaukee.
After the shooting, the man who has been identified as Jacob Blake was flown to a hospital in Milwaukee and is reported to be in serious condition.According to TIME, in a news release, Kenosha Police had said that a person was hospitalized following a shooting by officers who were ‘responding to a “domestic incident”‘.
Apart from this, the police has not provided any further details regarding what led up to the shooting or who the officers were. What is more, they have referred all questions to the Wisconsin Department of Justice who has taken over the investigation.
Wisconsin’s governor and numerous protesters have shown outrage at this incident of police brutality.
TMZ has said that even if Jacob Blake was disobeying orders given by the officers, the video depicts the man being calm, non-threatening and unarmed. Consequently, many protesters are demanding that the police officers responsible for the shooting are identified, arrested and charged. In addition to this, Wisconsin’s governor Tory Evers rebuked the Kenosha police as he posted the following on Twitter:
Tonight, Jacob Blake was shot in the back multiple times, in broad daylight, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Kathy and I join his family, friends, and neighbors in hoping earnestly that he will not succumb to his injuries.
While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.
We stand with all those who have and continue to demand justice, equity, and accountability for Black lives in our country—lives like those of George Floyd, of Breonna Taylor, Tony Robinson, Dontre Hamilton, Ernest Lacy, and Sylville Smith. And we stand against excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging with Black Wisconsinites.
I have said all along that although we must offer our empathy, equally important is our action. In the coming days, we will demand just that of elected officials in our state who have failed to recognize the racism in our state and our country for far too long.
