Police officer who shot African-American Jacob Blake named

The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) has named the police officer who shot African-American Jacob Blake, an incident which has resulted in days of protests. The Attorney General of the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Josh Kaul, has said in a statement on Wednesday that a police officer named Rusten Sheskey had shot Blake seven times in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The statement describes the incident that led to the August 23 shooting. 

“Kenosha Police Department officers were dispatched to a residence in the 2800 block of 40th Street on the evening of Sunday, 23 August after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises,” it read.

“During the incident, officers attempted to arrest Jacob S. Blake, age 29. Law enforcement deployed a taser to attempt to stop Mr Blake, however the taser was not successful in stopping Mr Blake,” the statement added.

It said that Sheskey fired his gun seven times as Blake walked around his car to open the door. 

“Mr. Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side door, and leaned forward. While holding onto Mr Blake’s shirt, Officer Rusten Sheskey fired his service weapon 7 times. Officer Sheskey fired the weapon into Mr Blake’s back.”

The statement added that no other officer had fired their weapons during the incident. The officers reportedly found a knife inside Blake’s car, but no other weapon was recovered. 

The incident has sparked controversy and led to a few demonstrations of violent protests on the Kenosha streets. On Wednesday, a 17-year-old was arrested after two people were killed and another injured on Tuesday night amid the unrest.

US President Donald Trump has sent federal forces to Kenosha to contain the masses. 

“We will NOT stand for looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on American streets. My team just got off the phone with Governor Evers who agreed to accept federal assistance (Portland should do the same!),” Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Following the protests in Kenosha, a number of other cities have joined in. These include Portland, Oregon and in Minneapolis, Minnesota– which was the epicentre of global protests after a police officer fatally shot an unarmed African-American George Floyd, resulting in the Black Lives Matter movement.