At least one person is dead and two injured after an overnight shooting amid protests in Kenosha.
Police haven’t confirmed who fired the shots or how badly the other two are hurt. A video circulating online shows a man with an AR-15-type gun running away from a group of protesters who were facing off with police. The man falls to the ground and fires shots into the crowd, dropping two people to the ground. Another video shows a man bleeding with bystanders yelling he’d been shot in the head.
Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, is calling for peace.
Protests have been ongoing in the city since Sunday, when police shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, several times in the back. Blake survived but is reportedly paralyzed.
On the political scence, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin say Governor Evers could have stopped some of the violence in Kenosha by simply accepting help from President Trump. The White House yesterday says the governor refused an offer for more National Guard troops. The Evers’ Administration says they refused an offer of agents from the Department of Homeland Security.
State Rep. Jim Steineke said on Twitter last night that Kenosha was burning while the governor was fiddling.
However, it is now an official State of Emergency in Kenosha. The governor made that declaration yesterday afternoon. The order is as symbolic as anything as Governor Evers had already ordered the National Guard to Kenosha. The State of Emergency order opens the door to more state help in keeping the peace and trying to quell what’s been three nights of violence after the officer-involved shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday.
A GoFundMe to support Blake and his family has already brought in over one-million dollars after launching on Monday.
