Everything you need to know about the Jacob Blake case
Jacob’s Blake case is important but can be difficult to follow. Here is an up to date, chronological list on all the events that have happened.
Jenny Han / Asst. Opinion Editor
On Sunday, Aug. 23, in Kenosha, Wis., Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by the Kenosha police. According to the Chicago Sun Times, witnesses state that Jacob Blake “was simply trying to break up a fight Sunday evening.” In a video filmed by one of Blake’s neighbors that quickly became viral, Jacob Blake was calmly walking back to his SUV when a police officer, identified as Officer Rusten Sheskey, grabbed him by the back of his shirt and shot Blake. The video itself provides no context to the events that happened prior to the shooting. At this point, the police didn’t give any context to the shooting but revealed that they were called at around 5:11pm to the 2800 block of 40th Street Sunday after a woman said her boyfriend “was present and was not supposed to be on the premises.”
There were several witnesses during the time of the shooting. Several sources state that Blake was going out to celebrate the birthday of one of his sons, and all three of his sons were in the SUV when the shooting happened. In WTMJ-TV’s, an NBC affiliate television channel that’s licensed to Milwaukee, interview with Blake’s partner, Laquisha Booker, confirmed that the Sheskey did indeed shoot Blake while their kids were still in the car.
“That man just literally grabbed him by his shirt and looked the other way and was just shooting him,” Booker said. “With the kids in the back screaming. Screaming.”
Another anonymous witness told the Chicago Sun Times that “The officer [was] punching on him. Two officers come to assist. They get him down on the curb behind his vehicle. Somehow he manages to get up. They said he has a knife. All of the officers pull out their guns. … (One of the officers) tells him, ‘Get out of the car!’ and he starts shooting”.
However, the witness stated that they themselves never saw the knife. The neighbor who videotaped the event also said that he never saw a knife in Blake’s possession.
It was later reported that Blake was immediately hospitalized and had survived. Blake’s father later revealed that Jacob Blake was paralyzed from the waist down due to the gun shots. Blake’s attorney, Patrick Salvi Jr., elaborated on Blake’s injuries in an interview with NBC 5 Chicago, stating that the bullets “struck Blake’s spinal cord, resulted in the near-complete removal of his colon and small intestine and damaged his kidney and liver.” According to another more recent interview with the Chicago Sun Times, Blake’s father stated that when he visited his son in the hospital on Wednesday, Aug. 26, he was handcuffed to the bed for being under arrest. The charges that Blake is facing warranting his arrest are unknown but “The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that all hospitalized patients in police custody are restrained unless undergoing medical procedures.” Blake was charged with felony sexual assault in July, prior to being shot. However, as of Aug. 28, Blake is no longer in restraints and it remains unclear whether Blake’s allegations of sexual assault had any correlation to Blake’s shooting.
Several days after the shooting, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) gave new details surrounding the shooting. CNN provided additional details to the previously stated call, reporting that “Blake took the complainant’s keys and refused to leave. The dispatcher later explains she doesn’t have more details because the caller was ‘uncooperative.’”
DOJ also claimed that the officers had attempted to arrest Blake, even using a taser to try to stop him, but failed to do so. NBC 5 Chicago reported that “According to the release, Blake admitted to investigators that he did have a knife at the time and a knife was recovered from the driver’s side floorboard of his vehicle. No other weapons were found, the report said.” NBC 5 Chicago also noted that the officers did not have body cameras. There is a current investigation going on by the Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and a report by them is allegedly supposed to be provided within 30 days.
This shooting caused immense anger within the Black Lives Matter (BLM) community; There have been several methods people took to protest Blake’s shooting. Many people posted about their anger under #justiceforjacobblake and #jacobblake on social media. Many sports teams from various different sports also participated. Numerous NFL Teams refused to practice on Thursday to protest and instead use practice time to discuss the issues around race and police brutality. In addition, both the NBA and Major League Soccer postponed off their playoffs and matches to protest.
The most significant method has been through physical protests. Since Blake’s shooting, there has been a rise of protests across the nation, especially in Kenosha. Many of these protestors have defied Kenosha’s curfew laws and tensions with the police seems to have only increased. According to CBS News, several protestors threw several dozen bottles at the police in retaliation to the tear gas and rubber bullets the police shot back at them. The rise of protests also brought upon a rise of riots; Kenosha Fire Chief Charles Leipzig reported “34 fires associated with that unrest, with 30 businesses destroyed or damaged along with an unknown number of residences.”
On one particular protest on Tuesday night, Aug. 25, Kyle Rittenhouse, who traveled from Illinois to Wisconsin armed with a semi-automatic rifle, killed two people and injured another to actively counteract the protest. On video footage, Rittenhouse claimed that he was there at the protest with other armed civilians to protect businesses from vandalism. Rittenhouse has been charged with first degree homicide and will be facing life in prison if convicted.
However, Rittenhouse’s lawyers claimed that he shot the people due to self defense. One of Rittenhouse’s lawyers, John Pierce, took that sentiment even further by claiming that “He (Rittenhouse) is a brave, patriotic, compassionate, law-abiding American who loves his country and his community. He did nothing wrong.”
There are many questions surrounding the police’s response to Rittenhouse as several witnesses claim that the police had let Rittenhouse leave the scene without any arrest or interaction. There was also video footage, taken by a protester, showing a rather positive interaction Rittenhouse had with the police where the police seemed to have thanked Rittenhouse for being there. Associated Press (AP) reports that Rittenhouse’s extradition hearing was delayed to Sept. 25 upon the request of Rittenhouse’s assistant public defender Jennifer Snyder.
There have also been protests in Blake’s name in San Diego, too. On Aug. 28, protestors gathered outside of the San Diego’s Police Department (SDPD) and marched through the streets of Downtown, San Diego. The SDPD seemed to be aware of this protest as they have “shut down Broadway and E Street between 14th and 15th streets, on the north and south sides of downtown SDPD headquarters” prior to the protest and tweeted that “We are ready to facilitate a peaceful and respectful demonstration.”
However, the SDPD did pepper spray a small group that had their hands up in front of a line of police officers. By 10:30 p.m., SDPD arrested a total of nine people: one for battery on an officer and resisting arrest with violence, three for resisting/obstructing officers, one for punching an officer and the remaining two for interfering with the previously stated arrest. The protestor who attacked the officer was identified as Joseph Austin Gaskins.
On Friday, Aug. 28, Wisconsin’s Gov. Tony Evers (Democrat) called a special session by the Wisconsin Senate to address police reformation measures for Monday, Aug. 31. However, it was revealed later on Monday that “Republicans left the session open rather than adjourning it, which allowed them to take action at a later date, though they gave no assurances that they would do so.”
AP reports that President Trump on Tuesday, Sept.1, visited Kenosha despite the NAACP advising neither presidential candidates to visit Kenosha. Evers also directly asked Trump not to go, stating that “I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together.” However, Trump insisted that he wanted to be “there for the National Guard because they’ve done a great job in Kenosha. They put out the flame immediately” and “increase enthusiasm” in Wisconsin, presumably for his presidential campaign.
Although Trump directly blamed “radical troublemakers” for the recent violence, he has done nothing to condone Rittenhouse’s actions, stating that “It was an interesting situation” where “He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like, and he fell. And then they very violently attacked him. … He was in very big trouble. He would have been — you probably would’ve been killed” during a news conference on Monday, Aug. 31. Biden directly countered Trump afterwards, retorting that “He [Trump] doesn’t want to shed light, he wants to generate heat, and he’s stoking violence in our cities. He can’t stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it.”
Since this exchange, AP reported that Biden’s team has considered visiting Kenosha but has not made it official. Since the shootings, there has reportedly been increased tensions between the residents, especially the white and black citizens, in Kenosha.
This is an ongoing story and all events are accurate at the time this article was written and published. Updates will be provided accordingly.