Police shooting of black Wisconsin man sparks protests

The shooting by police of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, on Sunday afternoon in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has sparked protests that have sometimes turned violent, and the governor has called in the National Guard.

Blake, who worked as a security guard and was apparently unarmed, was shot three times in the back as he was about to get into an SUV that contained three of his children — aged 8, 5 and 3 — who witnessed the shooting, according to a lawyer for the family.

Footage of the incident was caught on video taken by a neighbor across the street from Blake's home.

Raysean White, who made the video, told CNN he heard the police yell at Blake to "drop the knife" but did not see a knife in Blake's hand.

In the brief video, seven gunshot sounds can be heard as Blake opens the SUV's door, and a woman nearby jumps up and down in disbelief, according to a Reuters description of the clip.

Kenosha police have offered little information about the shooting, saying only that an officer had shot Blake while responding to a domestic incident.

Reuters reported that it was unknown whether the officers saw something inside the vehicle that caused them to fire on Blake, and it was also not clear whether one or both officers fired their weapons.

The officers involved, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative leave. The Wisconsin Department of Justice has said it will investigate the incident.

The shooting occurred three months after the death of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis police custody sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and racism in the United States.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the Blake family who also worked with the Floyd family, said that he had been told that Blake was attempting to intervene in an argument between two women when the police arrived, according to The New York Times.

"The police haven't told us why they did what they did to him," said Crump. "Being a black man in America, he was suspicious automatically."

After being rushed to a hospital near Milwaukee, Blake was out of surgery and in stable condition, his father told news media on Monday.

Crowds gathered at the scene, and some protesters set fires and threw bricks and Molotov cocktails at police, prompting authorities to close public buildings. Activists said they were organizing another night of demonstrations for Monday night.

During the night, cars and dump trucks were set ablaze and some store windows were smashed. One officer was reportedly struck with a brick.

More than 100 members of the Wisconsin National Guard were deployed to Kenosha on Monday, according to the Times. Kenosha, a city of about 100,000 on Lake Michigan, set an 8 pm curfew for a second night.

"This city is not going to stop burning itself down until they (protesters) know that this officer has been fired," said Whitney Cabal, one of the leaders of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Kenosha.

"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," said Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, in a statement hours after the shooting.

Evers announced a special session for next Monday for legislators to consider a package of bills introduced months ago to improve police accountability and eliminate dangerous practices.

"We must rise to this movement and this moment and meet it with our empathy, our humanity and a fierce commitment to disrupt the cycle of systemic racism and bias that devastates black families and communities," Evers said in a public address.

Pete Deates, the head of the city's police union, said Evers was "wholly irresponsible" for rushing to judgment.

Former vice-president Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, called Monday for the officers to be held accountable.

"(This) morning, the nation wakes up yet again with grief and outrage that yet another Black American is a victim of excessive force," Biden said in a statement on Monday. "These shots pierce the soul of our nation. Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others. We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us."

Reuters contributed to this story.