August 24 Jacob Blake protests news

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes said Jacob Blake was shot seven times by Kenosha Police Department. 

“Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times in front of his children. And let me be clear, this was not an accident. This was not bad police work. This felt like some sort of vendetta being taking out on a member of our community,” he said in a live message streamed today. 

According to Barnes, Blake was trying to deescalate a situation in his community.

“The irony is not lost on me that as Jacob Blake was actually trying to deescalate a situation in his community, but the responding officer didn’t feel the need to do the same,” he said.

A graphic video purported to be of the shooting was posted to Facebook. Police said they were called to the address for a domestic disturbance, but it is unclear what happened before the video recording began.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called for a special legislative session on Monday, one day after Jacob Blake was shot by Kenosha police.

Evers wants lawmakers to take up a bill package his office proposed earlier in the year to “increase accountability and transparency in policing,” address inappropriate use of force, and prohibit dangerous policing practices.  

In a video of the incident taken by a bystander, Kenosha police officers are seen shooting Blake.

“We must offer our empathy. We must see the trauma, fear and exhaustion of being Black in our state and our country,” he added.   

Update: Since this item posted, Jacob Blake has confirmed in interviews that he did have a knife.

Justin Blake — uncle to Jacob Blake, who was shot by Kenosha police on Sunday — told CNN he was “devastated and outraged” after watching the video of his nephew being shot.  

“The police were called for a domestic disturbance but Jacob had nothing to do with the fight. This has got to stop,” he said. 

Update: Since this item posted, Jacob Blake has confirmed in interviews that he did have a knife.

Raysean White, the man who filmed the altercation between Jacob Blake and the Kenosha Police Department, said the Sunday shooting is another example on a long list of Black people shot by police.

White said his video further documents police violence against unarmed Black men and women.

"This is showing proof of how the police officers, like, constantly killing Black unarmed Black men for no reason — because they have a badge, and they feel like they have power to shoot," he said.

Just seeing and filming the shooting was traumatizing, White said — but he also felt like he easily been the one shot.

"It could have been me, too. I stood right here, it could have been me," he said. "I'm just witnessing it, recording it. I was so angry," he said.

"It was so traumatic," White added.

WATCH HERE:

Update: Since this item posted, Jacob Blake has confirmed in interviews that he did have a knife.

A Black father in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot by police Sunday afternoon.

If you're just reading in now, here's what we know — and what we don't know — about the shooting:

Kenosha Professional Police Association President Pete Deates said Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ statement on the shooting of Jacob Blake is “wholly irresponsible and not reflective of the hardworking members of the law enforcement community.”

Deates urged the public to withhold judgment until the Department of Justice has completed its investigation. 

What Evers said: Shortly after the shooting, Evers released a statement naming Blake as the victim. The governor noted 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 ."

Here's the full statment:

Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden is calling for "an immediate, full and transparent investigation," into the shooting of Jacob Blake by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Biden added that "the officers must be held accountable," and said that "equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others," and notes that the country is at an inflection point.   

"We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us. We must fight to honor the ideals laid in the original American promise, which we are yet to attain: That all men and women are created equal, but more importantly that they must be treated equally." 

Two officers involved in the Sunday shooting in Kenosha are on leave, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice's division of criminal investigation, which is leading a probe into the incident.

All officers are cooperating, the department said. Neither officer has been identified.

Jacob Blake is in critical condition after he was shot by an officer with the Kenosha Police Department in Wisconsin on Sunday.

This video captures the event as it happened.

Warning: The video contains disturbing images, so viewer discretion is advised.

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Video shows police shooting of black man in Wisconsin - CNN Video