Protests erupted in Wisconsin after video circulated on social media showing police officers shooting a black man in the back seven times
Demonstrators are targeting police officers at the scene of a shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
A man identified by local media as Jacob Blake is in a serious condition in hospital, the police department confirmed. He received CPR at the scene and was then flown to medical treatment by air ambulance.
Video viewed millions of times on Twitter and Instagram shows Blake being shot in the back as he tries to enter a car.
Police said they were responding to a domestic incident but would not provide further information about the sequence of events.
Authorities won’t reveal whether Blake was armed, citing an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, but American media are reporting he wasn’t.
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, understood to be representing Blake’s family, said his client’s sons were inside the car at the time of the shooting.
Confirmed: Jacob Blake’s 3 SONS were IN THE CAR he was getting into when @KenoshaPolice shot him tonight. They saw a cop shoot their father. They will be traumatized forever. We cannot let officers violate their duty to PROTECT us. Our kids deserve better!! #JusticeForJacobBlake
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 24, 2020
Crump also said Blake had been trying to break up a fight.
The officer who shot Blake, not yet officially named, has been placed on administrative leave, the justice department said.
An emergency overnight curfew was deployed in Kenosha after the shooting and subsequent unrest but, on Sunday night, hundreds of people marched on the city’s police headquarters and a series of vehicles were set alight.
Tear gas was used to disperse those defying the curfew and 24-hour businesses were advised by police to close, after multiple reports of armed robberies and shootings.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said: “While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.
“We stand against excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging with black Wisconsinites.”
