KENOSHA, Wis (NewsNation) — The Wisconsin Attorney General Wednesday released more details about the police shooting of Jacob Blake as unrest over the shooting spread throughout the country.
AG Josh Kaul said police officers went to a home after a woman called and said that her boyfriend was there and not supposed to be. It has not been confirmed if this call was in regards to Blake.
Kaul said that during the initial investigation Blake said he had a knife in his possession. Wisconsin Department of Justice officers said they later found the knife in the driver’s side floorboard of the car.
Kaul said law enforcement attempted to arrest Blake and used a taser on Blake but it didn’t work. Blake then allegedly walked around his vehicle, opened a door then leaned forward, according to Kaul.
Kaul said officer Rusten Sheskey then held Blake’s shirt and shot him seven times in the back. Sheskey has been with Kenosha PD for seven years. The officers involved in Jacob Blake shooting did not have body cameras because the Kenosha Police Department does not have them.
All officers involved are now under administrative leave, which is standard practice. No other names of officers involved were released.
The confrontation with Kenosha police was captured on cellphone video.
Attorney Ben Crump said Tuesday that Jacob Blake is paralyzed and it would “take a miracle” for him to walk again. Crump said bullets pierced Blake’s spine and shattered one of his ribs, puncturing a lung, damaging his liver and creating holes in his stomach.
“My son has been fighting for his life and we just really need prayers,” Julia Jackson, Blake’s mother, said in a Tuesday press conference. “As I was riding through here, through the city, I noticed a lot of damage. That doesn’t reflect my son or my family, as I pray for my son’s healing, physically and emotionally and spiritually, I also have been praying even before this for the healing of our country.”
Unrest has broken out three nights in a row in Kenosha.
Two people were shot dead and a third person was injured in a shooting during the unrest Tuesday night.
Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency following the protests across the state on Tuesday afternoon. Kenosha County Board of Supervisors have asked Evers to send in more National Guard troops with police powers — 1,500 of them. A curfew for the city of Kenosha of 7 p.m. will be in effect until Saturday.
Another attorney for Blake’s family said they would be filing a civil lawsuit against the police department over the shooting.
“This is real America,” said Crump. “This is real. Being profiled every single day by the people who are supposed to serve us.”
“Heaven is full to its capacity with victims who have been taken at the hands of law enforcement,” said lawyer B’Ivory LaMarr.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
