Jacob Blake, a Kenosha man, was shot when officers were sent to the neighborhood on Sunday evening, August 24th. The incident occurred on the 2800 block of 40th Street. Blake is said to be in serious condition at a Milwaukee-area hospital after what police called a domestic incident.
The interesting fact is that, according to Kenoshanews.com, more than 60 people were gathered following the shooting at the scene with several saying that the Black man was trying to break up a verbal altercation between two women shortly after 5 p.m.
A viral video has surfaced showing the man calmly walking around his vehicle to get in while two armed officers followed behind him. When he proceeded to attempt to get in, one tried to grab him but then opened fire at least seven times on the man’s back. You then see a woman in the video is screaming and jumping just a few feet away as he is being shot.
Many nearby witnesses said that police had attempted to use a Taser on the man prior to the shooting. They also said the man was completely unarmed.
According to a police department press release, Kenosha police were sent to the incident shortly after 5:11 p.m. and were involved in an officer-involved shooting. Officers provided immediate aid to the man, who was transported via Flight for Life to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. The man was in serious condition.
Shortly there after, members of the local Black Lives Matter movement in Kenosha along with a representative from the Lake County movement also arrived to protest the shooting.
The incident was being turned over to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, which will be investigating the officer involved shooting.
Incidents like this keep blacks in fear of our lives when encountering the police. It seems at any given time we can be killed, without remorse, without justice. This keeps our prayers up for our black men especially while in contact with a force who we should feel protected by, but we don’t.
We just want justice. And we want it now!
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