Ayyyeee… What’s Goodie Everyone. So I have a disturbing video of a unarmed Black man being gun down by police officers in Kinosha Wisconsin.
The video starts off as Jacob Blake moves around to the front of a silver SUV on Sunday, with two Kenosha, Wis., police officers following close behind, their guns drawn. When Blake opens the door and steps inside, the officers suddenly fire toward his back at least seven times.
The video footage quickly spread online. Thid comes as the country has faced long protests spurred by George Floyd’s death in custody in Minneapolis in May, setting off the wave of demonstrations against police brutality and for racial justice.
Blake is in serious but stable condition, the officers have been placed on administrative leave, and the city of Kenosha declared an emergency curfew after protests rocked the city into early Monday morning.
The shooting in Kenosha, a city located between Milwaukee and Chicago, occurred after 5 p.m. Sunday, when officers responded to a domestic incident, police said. Witnesses told the Kenosha News that Blake was trying to break up a fight and that police first attempted to stun him with a Taser.
The video shows neighbors congregated outside as two officers with their guns drawn followed Blake as he approached the car. As Blake opened the driver’s side door, an officer can be seen tugging at Blake’s white tank top before multiple shots ring out from the police.
Benjamin Crump, a civil rights lawyer who has represented the families of many people fatally shot by police, said Monday that he had been retained by Blake’s family.
Crump said in a statement that Blake’s “three sons witnessed their father collapse after being riddled with bullets.” According to Crump, Blake was “simply trying to do the right thing by intervening in a domestic incident,” and he did not elaborate on what that entailed.
“It’s a miracle he’s still alive,” Crump said.
Shortly afterwards the city declared a state of emergency and instituted an overnight curfew. A public safety alert suggested that 24 hour businesses close “due to numerous armed robberies and shots fired calls.”
The Wisconsin Department of Justice will investigate the shooting, officials said.
