Here's Everything We Know About The Jacob Blake Shooting

"The officers were responding to a fight," said witness La-Ron Franklin."It was some girls fighting. A gentleman was breaking up the fight. When he was turning to get his kids, the officer shot this man seven times."

29-year-old Jacob Blake was supposedly “breaking up a fight between two women,” according to Benjamin Crump, the attorney hired by Blake’s family. 

Eyewitness Rayshean White was watching from across the street. He says he heard two women arguing when Blake arrived. He also said that he saw the police “wrestle, punch and taser” Blake before he started filming. White’s footage was subsequently shared on social media by Crump and went viral.

The video shows Blake walking away from two police officers, who already have their weapons out, and heading to the driver’s door of a parked car and reaching inside. One officer tries to stop him by pulling his shirt, and shots are fired. CNN reports Blake was shot in the back seven times. 

White said that he “heard police officers shout ‘Drop the knife!’ before gunfire erupted, but said he didn't see a knife in Mr. Blake's hands.”

According to Crump, Blake’s three sons, ages 3, 5, and 8, were in the car and witnessed their father being shot. 

Medical aid was immediately provided to Blake, who was taken to a Milwaukee hospital. 

"He had a bullet go through some or all of his spinal cord, at least one bullet. He has holes in his stomach. He had to have nearly his entire colon and small intestines removed," attorney Patrick Salvi stated.

"The medical diagnosis right now is that he is paralyzed and because those bullets severed his spinal cord and shattered some of his vertebrae… it is going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again," Crump said.

A second video of the incident, taken from a different angle and beginning slightly earlier, has recently surfaced on social media.

The video appears to show Blake scuffling with the police officers before moving around the car to the driver’s door and opening it. 

Two days ago, Madison365 obtained the audio recording of the conversation between the dispatcher and the two officers who responded to the domestic incident. According to the audio, a woman called the police reporting that Blake was at her home, where he wasn’t supposed to be, and that he had taken her keys and refused to return them. While the police were driving to the address, the dispatcher informed the officers that there was a warrant out for Blake’s arrest. A moment later, the dispatcher reported that the caller said Blake was leaving and had hung up. 

There is indeed a warrant out for Blake’s arrest — filed July 6, 2020. The warrant lists domestic abuse, criminal trespass to dwelling, 3rd-degree sexual assault, and disorderly conduct. 

Because of the warrant, Blake would have been arrested regardless of whether he was breaking up a fight between two women or if he were stealing car keys. And walking away from two officers who are trying to legally arrest you, and then reaching into a vehicle, is going to escalate the situation regardless of anyone’s sex or race. Why didn’t Blake yield and cooperate? 

Blake’s family told news outlets that security guard Blake moved to Kenosha for a “fresh start” because it was “a safer location." He could work and try to save and build a better life.”

Riots have subsequently broken out in Wisconsin for three days now. Two people have been killed, and one has been injured during the riots. Businesses and cars have been burned. Governor Tony Evers declared a state of emergency on August 25 and “authorized the presence of up to 250 members of the state's National Guard. The Kenosha County Sheriff's Department instituted an 8 p.m. curfew for the third night in a row.” 

Today, Trump announced that he will send federal law enforcement officers and more National Guard to Kenosha.