A Wisconsin police officer who fired seven shots into the back of a black man named Jacob Blake has been identified as officer Rusten Sheskey.
The shooting is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and an initial account of Sunday’s incident identifies Sheskey as the trigger man.
According to the DOJ, Kenosha Police Department officers were dispatched to a residence after a female caller reported her boyfriend was there when he was not supposed to be.
During the incident, the DOJ stated that police attempted to arrest Jacob and used a taser to try and stop him, but it did not work.
As depicted in a video of the interaction that quickly went viral on social media, Blake walked to his SUV and opened the driver’s side door. Sheskey, 31, grabbed Blake’s shirt and fired his service weapon seven times into Blake’s back.
According to reports, the release noted that no other officer fired their weapon, and that none of the officers were wearing body cameras because the department does not have any. All of the officers involved in the incident have been suspended.
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The DCI said Blake appears to have told officers that he had a knife in his possession. Investigators later “recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard” of Blake’s vehicle and no other weapons were found.
The agency stated that investigation to review evidence continues in order to determine facts and will turn over its investigative report to a prosecutor once complete.
