State authorities are currently investigating why two police officers shoot an unarmed Black man in the back as he entered the driver’s side door of an SUV.
Jacob Blake, 29, was rushed to the hospital following the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday evening, and is now in a stable condition at the ICU in Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee.
Attorney Benjamin Crump, who now represents the Blake family, posted a video of the shooting that went viral and sparking outrage prompting county officials to implement a curfew that remained in place until Monday morning.
According to the Kenosha Police Department, the shooting happened at around 5pm when officers responded to a 911 call reporting a domestic disturbance.
The video shows three officers shouting and pointing their weapons at Blake, who walked around the front of an SUV.
As soon as Blake opened the driver’s side door and leaned inside, an officer grabbed his shirt from behind and started shooting into the vehicle while his children watched helplessly.
According to witness accounts, Blake was trying to break up a fight between two women outside a home, and that the police attempted to subdue him with a Taser to no avail.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers denounced the act, calling it an “excessive use of force” by the police, and urged elected officials to “recognize the racism in our state and our country for far too long.”
“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,” Evers added.
The incident adds to the growing list of Black people having an unfortunate run in with the police, including encounters that killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
The night before Blake’s shooting, a 31-year-old Black man named Trayford Pellerin was killed by the police outside a convenience store in Lafayette, Louisiana.
“We all watched the horrific video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back several times by Kenosha Police. Even worse, his three sons witnessed their father collapse after being riddled with bullets,” said Crump.
“Their irresponsible, reckless and inhumane actions nearly cost the life of a man who was simply trying to do the right thing by intervening in a domestic incident. It’s a miracle he’s alive.”