A Black man was shot within the back multiple times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday, a bystander's video showed, prompting community protests and widespread anger.
The incident comes just three months after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
The man, identified by his family as Jacob Blake, 29, is in serious condition at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, the Kenosha local department said during a statement. Blake's family has since confirmed that he's out of surgery and stable.
Police released few details about what happened but said officers were responding to a domestic incident at 5:11 p.m. civil time and “were involved in an officer-involved shooting.”
The Kenosha local department said the division of criminal investigations for the Wisconsin Department of Justice would investigate the shooting and deferred requests for comment there.
The officers involved are placed on administrative leave, consistent with a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Blake's family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump, consistent with a press release from Crump's office.
"Blake was helping to deescalate a domestic incident when police drew their weapons and tasered him. As he was walking away to see on his children, police fired their weapons several times into his back at point blank range. Blake’s three sons were only a couple of feet away and witnessed police shoot their father," the statement said.
"We all watched the horrific video of Jacob Blake being shot within the back several times by Kenosha police. Even worse, his three sons witnessed their father collapse after being riddled with bullets. Their irresponsible, reckless, and inhumane actions nearly cost the lifetime of a person who was simply trying to try to to the proper thing by intervening during a domestic incident. It’s a miracle he’s still alive," Crump said.
“We will seek justice for Jacob Blake and for his family as we demand answers from the Kenosha local department ," he said.
Raysean White, 22, who filmed the video, told NBC News that the incident first caught his attention when he heard a gaggle of girls arguing across the road from his apartment.
"Then the guy that got shot showed up," White said. "He pulled up in his truck, got out his truck, seen him walk up. His son was running towards him. He was learning his son. He told his son to urge within the grey truck, we close to go."
Minutes later, White said he looked out of his window again to ascertain "police out there wrestling" with the person , who was later identified as Blake, behind the vehicle.
White said he saw a female officer tase Blake. White said he then began to record the incident, a number of which is obscured by the vehicle, and it's unclear what exactly transpired before the video starts.
"They were also yelling 'drop the knife,'" White said. "I didn’t see any weapons in his hands, he wasn’t being violent."
The video shows Blake walking ahead of the vehicle to undertake and obtain into the driver's seat, although it's not clear whether he's carrying a knife.
It is at now that shots are fired.
"I was freaked out," White said. "And then I seen the mother of the kid that came the truck, I seen her get the small boy out the truck. He had to be 4,5, 6 (years of age) or that range."
Blake’s partner, Laquisha Booker, told WTMJ, the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee, that she and Jacob have three children together, and therefore the children were within the back seat of the vehicle when police shot their father.
"That man just literally grabbed him by his shirt and looked the opposite way and was just shooting him. With the youngsters within the back screaming. Screaming," Booker said.
Booker also said Blake was unarmed.
That don't add up that you simply treat somebody like that, who's not armed. He ain't throw no punch or nothing," Booker said.
Neither the Kenosha local department nor the Wisconsin Department of Justice immediately skilled requests for comment regarding the accounts described by Crump, White or Booker.
In a statement, Pete Deates, the president of the Kenosha Professional Police Association, reiterated on Monday that the Wisconsin Department of Justice was investigating the shooting.
"Until that investigation is completed, we ask that you simply withhold prejudgment about the incident and please let the method happen ," Deates said. "The video currently circulating doesn't capture all the intricacies of a highly dynamic incident. We ask that you simply withhold from passing judgement until all the facts are known and released."
"We, along side the citizens of the good City of Kenosha, invite peace and to let the method play out fairly and impartially," Deates added.
Anger over the incident sparked protests across the town , which saw dump trucks assail fire and windows of a library smashed, consistent with video on social media.
A reporter for WTMJ said the windows of police vehicles were also smashed. Police with riot gear seemed to reach the scene.
The Kenosha County Sheriff's Department issued a state of emergency late Sunday and imposed a curfew prohibiting people from being on the streets until 7 a.m. Monday.
“Tonight, Jacob Blake was shot within the back multiple times, in broad daylight," Gov. Tony Evers said during a statement. "While we don't have all of the small print yet, what we all know surely is that he's not the primary Black man or person to possess been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of people in enforcement in our state or our country."
Evers said he stands with those that are demanding justice and accountability.
Jeffery Robinson, the director of the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality, said during a statement that "unfortunately, disgusting acts of police brutality like this may be commonplace goodbye as police still act as an occupying force in Black communities."
"The incontrovertible fact that incidents of police violence like this, the murder of Breonna Taylor as she slept in her home, the murder of George Floyd across the road from a grocery , the murder of Eric Garner outside of an area bodega and countless others became commonplace shows that the very institution of yank policing is rotten at its core," Robinson said.
President Donald Trump said he was briefed on the incident early Monday and would be meeting with Attorney General William Barr later within the day to debate the difficulty in additional detail.
Although it had been too early to inform what happened, Trump told reporters, "The video tells a story that's troubling."
In a statement, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said "this morning, the state wakes up once more with grief and outrage that yet one more African-American may be a victim of excessive force."
"Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans then many others. We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism. it's the urgent task before us," Biden said. "These shots pierce the soul of our nation. Jill and that i pray for Jacob’s recovery and for his children."
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