17-year-old arrested after two die in Kenosha shooting as National Guard is called in
A teenager has been arrested on murder charges after two people were shot dead during a third night of anti-police protests in Kenosha | GRAPHIC
Governor Tony Evers was authorising 500 members of the Wisconsin National Guard to assist Kenosha authorities after three nights of violent clashes, and a 17-year-old was arrested in connection with a shooting during a protest here that left two people dead and one injured.
The city has experienced clashes, fires and looting since Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot in the back by a white policeman on Sunday.
The 17-year-old suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse, a resident of Antioch, Ill., is in custody of the Lake County Judicial System, according to the Antioch Police Department. Mr Rittenhouse was charged with first degree intentional homicide, Antioch police said.
As Donald Trump vowed to send in federal forces, the NBA cancelled all three playoff games on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) after the Milwaukee Bucks — whose home base is just to the north of Kenosha — boycotted their game in protest at Mr Blake’s shooting. “We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” Bucks player George Hill was quoted by The Undefeated website as saying.
The boycott spread to baseball, with the Milwaukee Brewers refusing to play a Major League Baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds.
Wisconsin authorities released their first statement on Wednesday on what happened in the moments before the shooting, saying Mr Blake had a knife “in his possession” when Officer Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the force, fired his gun seven times into the 29-year-old’s back.
It was not clear whether the knife, recovered from inside the car, was in Mr Blake’s hands when he was shot or at any other point during the altercation.
In a video cleared by Storyful from the protest, what sound like gunshots can be heard as people yell and a white male with an olive-green shirt and backward cap appears to shoot people after being chased by members in the crowd. The male in the olive-green shirt then walks with his hands up toward a police car, as people can be heard screaming in the background, “He just shot someone.”
President Trump said he would send federal law enforcement and National Guard to Kenosha.
“We will NOT stand for looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on American streets. My team just got off the phone with Governor Evers who agreed to accept federal assistance (Portland should do the same!),” Mr. Trump tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. ”...TODAY, I will be sending federal law enforcement and the National Guard to Kenosha, WI to restore LAW and ORDER!”
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said that he has spoken to the family of Jacob Blake and promised “justice.” “What I saw on that video makes me sick,” Biden said in a video statement he posted on Twitter, referring to footage that showed the shooting of the 29-year-old.
“I told them justice must and will be done”, he added. “Our hearts are with his family, especially his children. It’s horrible what they saw.” Biden also said that protesting police brutality is a “right” but warned that “burning down communities is not protest, it’s needless violence.”
In Kenosha’s Uptown neighborhood, buildings smouldered Wednesday morning from another round of fires the night before. The Danish Brotherhood Lodge was reduced to rubble, with firefighters out early hosing it down.
Police radio traffic captured by Broadcastify details some of the moments after the shooting. “Squads that are responding to this area, just be extremely cautious,” an officer says, according to the radio traffic.
“We’ve seen at least four people with handguns running around here.” About a minute later, an officer radios in: “We’ve got somebody down in the middle of the road. CPR in progress.” After the shooting occurred, friends began calling Renee Holmes, who was at work, to tell her it happened right outside her home. She called her husband, who was on the floor inside the home in fear for his life, she said.
“This is totally horrible,” she said. “My kid calls Kenosha ‘Kenowhere.’ Nothing happens here.” She said she plans to stay home tonight with her husband, a military veteran, to protect their home. “I’m not leaving here,” she said.
Tyler Northern chose to protect his home Tuesday night rather than his Taekwondo academy, which is near where the shooting took place and had some windows broken. Mr. Northern, who watched the video of the Tuesday night shooting, said, “I can’t say I would have done much different” than the shooter.
Tuesday night saw armed citizens patrolling the streets, who said they were there to protect local businesses from looting and destruction. It wasn’t clear that the shooting was connected to those people.
Wearing an AK-47 and a tactical vest, Josh Binninger, 41, said Tuesday night that he had organized a group of some 200 people via Facebook to come out and protect the streets of Kenosha.
“We’re here because we just watched our hometown be terrorized and burnt down the last two days,” Mr Binninger said. “This is not going to be a Portland.”
On Tuesday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency. Mr Evers said he authorised 250 Wisconsin National Guard troops to protect critical infrastructure and assist Kenosha authorities. Kenosha officials said another 100 law enforcement officers from surrounding areas were assisting local police. An 8pm curfew was in effect.
“We will continue to work with local, state and federal law enforcement in holding those criminals who are destroying our city responsible,” said Mayor John Antamarian in a statement.
Gates were erected Tuesday night around the Kenosha County Courthouse, a site of previous clashes between protesters and police. Some protesters rattled the gates, and police in riot gear yelled at them to go home.
Police shut down gas stations to prevent further incineration of the city. Some protesters came with their own gas cans and launched fireworks at the police. Large caravans of cars, many with obscured plates, were reported to be blocking the streets, according to police scanner traffic.
A video that went viral Sunday showed Mr Blake rounding a silver SUV as officers followed with weapons drawn. An officer can be heard screaming, “Drop the knife,” but it isn’t clear from the video whether Mr Blake is holding anything. When Mr Blake opened the door of the vehicle, an officer grabbed his white tank top and shot him multiple times from behind. Another video with a different angle of the shooting, which left Mr Blake hospitalised, showed officers trying to pin him to the ground seconds before firing.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Mr Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, called for an end to the violence in her son’s name. She said that she is praying for all of the police officers, their families and the community. “Let’s use our hearts, our love and our intelligence to work together to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other,” she said. “America is great when we behave greatly.”
Standing in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse where protesters and police clashed the night before, lawyers representing Mr Blake said at least one bullet went through his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed for now. His liver and kidney were damaged, he has holes in his stomach, and his colon and small intestine were removed, the lawyers said. He was also shot in his arm. He is currently in surgery.
— Kenosha Police Dept. (@KenoshaPolice) August 26, 2020
Patrick Salvi, one of Mr Blake’s lawyers, said they plan to file a civil lawsuit to seek money to pay for Mr Blake’s medical care and to hold police accountable. Another lawyer said they want the officers who shot Mr Blake to be terminated.
The police haven’t communicated with the family or Mr Blake’s lawyers, they said. Mr Blake is currently on pain medication and isn’t lucid, said his mother and Mr Salvi, so he hasn’t been able to tell them anything about the shooting.
Police said Monday they were responding to a domestic incident when the shooting occurred but have been silent on the shooting of Mr Blake since.
A senior Trump administration official said that Attorney General William Barr is looking into the police shooting in Wisconsin. “We’re still investigating and trying to determine what happened,” the administration official said.
The Wall Street Journal/AFP
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