A shooting late Tuesday night left two dead and a third injured in Kenosha, Wisconsin, police said. The shooting comes on the third night of a new wave of protests following the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake on Sunday.
Cellphone footage captured Blake being shot several times by police – apparently in the back. His children were also present on the scene. The incident comes three months after the death of George Floyd, which set off national protests and calls for police reform. Blake remains hospitalized. His family and attorney say he’s paralyzed from the waist down and may never walk again, according to AP News.
According to the Kenosha Police Department in a press release, officers responded to reports of multiple gunshots around 11:45 p.m. Gunshots could be heard in social media posts from at least one neighborhood where people carrying long guns remained in the streets after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, according to AP News. The identities and ages of the victims are still to be determined, but the police said the person injured was taken to the hospital with “serious, but non-life threatening injuries.”
According to The New York Times, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said his office is investigating whether the shooting was a result of a conflict between a group of armed business owners and demonstrators. Amid ongoing protests, Wisconsin’s governor declared a state of emergency after cars and buildings were set ablaze. As a result, 250 members of the National Guard were called in to assist the situation.
[Source: CNN]
