Protests have erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin in the United States after a police officer shot a black man multiple times in the back as he was getting into a car on Sunday, August 23.
The man, who is reported to have been unarmed, was identified as Jacob Blake and is said to be in a Milwaukee hospital in a serious condition, according to a statement from Kenosha Police Department.
His father in a Facebook post said that his son is alive and in stable condition, while a family friend Daniel Poneman tweeted that Blake is out of surgery, in the ICU and is “expected to make it”.
Video of the incident posted on social media shows three officers with their weapons drawn with one officer grabbing Blake’s shirt as he tries to enter the car and then opened fire on him while his three sons watched.
The video, which appears to have been taken from across the street, shows the man walking around an SUV as police yell at him with weapons drawn, with one officer closely following him.
As the man opens the driver-side door of the vehicle, the officer grabs the back of the man’s shirt and appears to fire several shots into the man’s back. At least seven shots are heard in the video, but it was unclear how many officers fired.
Police say they were responding to a domestic incident, while Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation has said that the involved officers have been placed on administrative leave as investigation commences.
The shooting has since triggered demonstrations in front of the city’s police department and clashes at the scene where Blake was shot.
Demonstrators outside police headquarters were tear-gassed at least twice and there were numerous vehicle fires there and outside a local courthouse.
The shooting comes as demonstrators continue to decry police violence in American cities, including the encounters that killed George Floyd and other black persons.
Watch video below;
3 police officers around an UNARMED Jacob Blake (who’s 3 kids were in the car) and their first reaction is to shoot him 7 times in the back at point blank range? This makes me wonder, does #BlackLivesMatter at all? pic.twitter.com/r0iy88Xs14
— T͜͡OL͜͡U͜͡🍟 (@thetoluoflagos) August 24, 2020
Handiwork of the Democrats, lol yeye dey smell.