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AUTHORITIES HAVE NAMED the officer who shot black man Jacob Blake as protests against racial injustice were taken up by major sport leagues and prominent athletes across the US.
The Wisconsin Justice Department said Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha Police Department, shot Blake while holding onto his shirt after officers first unsuccessfully used a Taser.
The Milwaukee Bucks did not leave their locker room as three NBA play-off games, three Major League Baseball matches, three WNBA fixtures and five Major League Soccer games were called-off after player-led actions.
Tennis star Naomi Osaka also withdrew from her semi-final at the Western & Southern Open in New York, scheduled for today, saying “before I am an athlete, I am a black woman”, with the tournament later announcing it would suspend play for the day.
It comes after a white 17-year-old police admirer was arrested over the killing of two people gunned down during a third night of protests in Wisconsin.
Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. Antioch is about 15 miles from Kenosha where protests have been taking place.
Two people were shot dead on Tuesday night in the attack carried out by a young white man who was caught on mobile phone video opening fire in the middle of the street with a semi-automatic rifle.
“I just killed somebody,” the gunman could be heard saying at one point during the shooting rampage that erupted just before midnight.
One victim was shot in the head and the other in the chest, Sheriff David Beth told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A third person suffered gunshot wounds not believed to be life-threatening.
In the wake of the killings, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers authorised 500 members of the National Guard to support local law enforcement around Kenosha, doubling the number of troops sent in.
The governor’s office said he was working other states to bring in additional National Guard troops and law officers.
“We were all chanting ‘Black lives matter’ at the gas station and then we heard, boom, boom, and I told my friend, ‘That’s not fireworks,’” 19-year-old protester Devin Scott told the Chicago Tribune.
“And then this guy with this huge gun runs by us in the middle of the street and people are yelling, ‘He shot someone! He shot someone!’ And everyone is trying to fight the guy, chasing him and then he started shooting again.”
Scott said he cradled a lifeless victim in his arms, and a woman started performing CPR, but “I don’t think he made it”.
According to witness accounts and video footage, police apparently let the young man responsible for the shootings walk past them with a rifle over his shoulder as members of the crowd were yelling for him to be arrested because he had shot people.
Much of Rittenhouse’s Facebook page is devoted to praising law enforcement, with references to Blue Lives Matter, a movement that supports police. He also can be seen holding an assault rifle.
Other photographs include those of badges of various law enforcement agencies, including the Chicago Police Department.
All of the badges have a black line across them — something police officers do with black tape or another material whenever an officer is killed in the line of duty.
The sheriff told the Journal Sentinel that armed people had been patrolling the city’s streets in recent nights, but he did not know if the gunman was among them.
“They’re a militia,” Beth said. “They’re like a vigilante group.”
The FBI said it is assisting in the case.
Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who is black, said in an interview with the news programme Democracy Now! that the shootings were not surprising and that white militias have been ignored for too long.
“How many times across this country do you see armed gunmen, protesting, walking into state Capitols, and everybody just thinks it’s OK?” Barnes said. “People treat that like it’s some kind of normal activity that people are walking around with assault rifles.”
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Wisconsin Justice Department also confirmed that Blake had a knife in his possession. Is that not newsworthy? Or just it just not fit the narrative? It’s a very odd thing to omit from this article…
@Edmund Spencer: does*
@Edmund Spencer: So you’ve no problem with a 17 year old murdering protesters with the connivance of the police? , and instead engage in shameless attempts at deflection.
@James Walsh: He didn’t say anything about the 17 year old, of course thats relavant in this article. Hes just asking why they left out the part about Blake carrying a weapon. They should include every detail.
@Edmund Spencer: what’re you on about? He shot 2 people!
Was he wearing shoes? Was he left or right handed? Are those my feet?
@James Walsh: hi jimbob. Maybe you meant 17 year old shooting rioters both with convictiins one being registered sex offender. Is that what you meant?
@James Walsh: is that the 17-year-old that was being chased by the mob and one of the said chasers was armed, or are you thinking of a different one?
@Edmund Spencer: still doesn’t justify it.
@Tom Ripley: why are you ignoring the fact that the murderer committed three crimes that day before pulling the trigger?
@Edmund Spencer: he was walking away from police. Not towards them with a weapon. The weapon also wasn’t on his person. A cop grabbed him and shot him instead of attempting to restrain him.
@Dave O’Keeffe: My point is that all week we’ve been told that he had no weapon. Then when the Wisconsin Justice Department said he did, many media sources aren’t reporting it. I never said the shooting was justified but the original story from the media is so vastly different from what’s coming out now that it makes you wonder…
@Dave O’Keeffe: The violent criminal that was disobeying orders from armed police and reaching into his car where he had a weapon?
Ok chief.
@Hugehure: so just shoot him in the back? Ok chief. Lethal force should be the absolute last resort. Shooting someone 7 times in the back? Because maybe he might have a weapon? Like Spiderman’s granddad said, with great power comes great responsibility.
@Edmund Spencer: I have a knife in my bag and car. People keep knifes in their car in case they need it. What’s the big deal? Even if he was going to use it against police, it still doesn’t change the fact he was unnecessarily shot multiple times in the back and is now possibly paralysed for life. One shot in the arm or leg would have been more than enough to de-escalate the situation.
@Dave O’Keeffe: the weapon was in the car he was going for it. He is a violent criminal with a warrant… he’s not cooperating. The cops did – apparently deployed a taser which failed, its America, he’s making threats and reaching down for a weapon – what do you think is the next option?
@Olive McClaw: The big deal is that all week the press have been portraying a story of a man without a weapon who was only there to break up a fight between two women. When in fact he did have a weapon and the reason the police were called was that he was trespassing and stealing. To me the only question is did he deserve to be shot 7 times? If you’re resisting arrest and not listening to police officers pointing a gun at you then it can’t come as a shock that you’d be shot. It’s the 7 times that seems excessive to me.
@Edmund Spencer: you’re allowed to be armed in the US. Even guns are allowed! So he wasn’t breaking a law.
@SC: Yes but considering the media has been reporting all week that he didn’t have a weapon, I thought they might like to correct themselves now that it’s been proven that he did. But they have an agenda so instead of reporting their mistake, they’ll just stop referring to him as “unarmed” going forward.
@The Monk: unfortunately Dave isn’t the brightest tool in box. If he can do better he should do what many an Irish lad has done and join police. One thinks he wouldn’t last long before being…. Ya know…. Shot
@james s: yes, its the 17 year old who was about to be beaten to death by a group of rioters with prior convictions.
@Paul O Mahony: What was a 17 year old doing there with a gun anyway? He doesn’t even live there and went there to act as a provocateur and possibly hoping to shoot someone in any case. Where are the parents and did they supply the gun?
@Dave O’Keeffe: A taser was used on him .Next weapon up is a firearm What did you expect the police to let him drive off .
@Hugehure: Police, STOP OR WE WILL TASER OR PEPPER SPRAY YOU, wait he’s black, OPEN FIRE.
@Edmund Spencer: I agree, but they also failed to report that the police are trained in a number of takedown techniques, not just keep shooting him in the back until my trigger finger gets tired. Last resort, not the first.
@Trevor Donoghue: And now instead of 1 criminal “taken care of” they have guaranteed that all his children that watched daddy get shot over and over by the cops are going to grow up to be model citizens , I seriously doubt it for some reason.
America is broken.
@Miss T: so broken. The only other countries that have armed people on the streets are 3rd world, war torn countries.
@Miss T: There’s a sickness at the heart of their society
@Deirdre O C: Rubbish, there are plenty of countries with armed police that are peaceful, Iceland for example, a country considered awash with guns and the first and only time the police ever shot and killed a gunman was in 2013,
He was there to break up a fight=lies
He didn’t have any weapon in his car=lies
Can anyone who was disputing these facts in the previous articles admit they were wrong??? .. Of course they wont and the hysteria around these justified shootings will continue because they want to divide us. Im really starting to think their are actual paid stooges on this site trying their best to stirr the pot.
@Giddy: How much are you getting paid Moe?
@Giddy: The Journal haven’t even reported that he didn’t have a knife. They’ve just stopped referring to him as “unarmed” now, which they had in most of the previous articles about him.
@Giddy: not so much fake news as news that suits
@biggybald: I should be getting paid, im definitely giving more information and facts than most of the so called journalists these days.
@Giddy: a human person was shot in the back 7 times by police – fact
@Margaret Jordan: A wanted criminal who was reaching for a weapon got shot by a policeman who feared for his life. Fact
@Margaret Jordan: Context is key, you cant just say that “Human got shot 7 times” fact
What sort of statement is that??? , thats almost laughable. Come back when you have a decent argument
@Giddy: go away yank. You aren’t winning any battle here
@Giddy: did they know he was reaching for a knife when they shot him? Could they not have just backed away? A knife isn’t much use from a few meters away. Did the police officer need to shoot seven times? I’m not trying to justify either side, I think the whole country is gone bats**t. However, the bottom line is a man is paralysed because a police officer, who is supposed to de-escalate situations and protect people, shot him seven times in the back while he was already close enough to grab onto his shirt.
@Big Smokey: Im not American, and i think the thumbs up show most people agree with me. Back in your box
@Daniel Lehane: They probably thought he was reaching for a gun, he has a history of using guns in the past, he also has a history of violence towards police officers. Im sure these past felonies would have played a part in the officer fearing for his life.
@Giddy: So why not shoot in the arm or leg? Why seven times in the back? Why not just taze gun him? You can’t tell me that the officer was so scared that he felt the need to shoot him 7 times in the back of all places.
@Olive McClaw: They did use a Tazer, it didn’t work on him…
The man is lucky to be alive but dont forget a shot to the arm or leg can kill someone aswell, of course multiple shots to the back are worse but if you put yourself in the policemans shoes you would probably keep shooting till you know the threat is over.. Jacob blake has a history of violence towards police, a history of gun crime.. These police got the radio dispatch mentioning this man by name, he was a well known criminal. In july he pulled a gun on police after breaking into his ex’s house and sexually assaulting her. This is not a good man.
Police admirer gunned down people???
If you seen the video you will see he was on the ground and about to be attacked. it was self defence, plain and simple
https://youtu.be/KFJ11Hx8wFo
@Giddy: we’re talking about a 17 year old with an assault rifle…which is by the way illegal for an under 18 to carry in a Wisconsin.
A textbook example of why Donald Trump is so dangerous– this kid might have remained quietly dysfunctional in obscurity had he not been duped into thinking his way of life was being threatened and somehow he could be a hero
Something really wrong with the direction America has gone under Trump presidency.
@Diaspora’d: Are you going to admit you were wrong???
@Diaspora’d: As I’ve said before Antifa and BLM came about during the Obama administration, get your facts straight. You literally blame Trump on everything.
@Giddy: it has not been determined if the shooting was justified It’s still under investigation!
Why is it not right to question or investigate if it was excessive to shoot someone point blank 7 times in the back over a knife?
@Diaspora’d: Ok so you think 7 shots was excessive, so if he only shot him once in the back that would be ok??? The officer shot until the threat was over with, watch the video again, you can see it for yourself, he keeps reaching for his weapon. How are you still trying to argue your point when you were so clearly wrong about everything you said yesterday
@Giddy: he brought a semi automatic weapon to a protest in case he saw a deer did he?
@Hector Son: I don’t know what he was doing there to be honest, but I’ve heard he was there to help protect businesses from the looters and rioters. He shouldn’t have been there in the first place, it’s not his job to have to help protect businesses, but lets not get the truth twisted, he was being attacked 1st and shot in self defence.
@Giddy: What the hell was a 17 year old doing there anyway, and armed with a rifle? Only white supremacists could defend these despicable murders.
@Giddy: you are the type of lad that clearly supported the RUC and loyalists back in the day.
@Big Smokey: What are you even doing here??? You’ve left two comments that are just trying to attack me, if you have nothing substantial to add to the conversation just stay in your box
@Giddy:
Re the 17 year old – watch https://www.ebay.ie/itm/264819101615 this is the precursor to why he was being chased down the street, after some altercation in a car park where he’d already fired ~7 shots and hit the first victim
@James Walsh: Are you calling everyone who doesn’t agree with you a white supremacist?? I didn’t expect any less from you James.
@Ixtrix Net: That link was not what you meant to send, but yeah i seen the video you were talking about beforehand, i didnt know that was the same guy who shot the rioter trying to burn down the car dealership. Is this definitely the same guy??? because apparently there was afew people with guns??
@Giddy:
well that’s pretty embarrassing for me ><
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lRdMi4nUOA was the one i meant,., and yeah, the first clip is hard at first to make out but the 7 shots are clear, the second clip is much better video and is very clearly Ritternhouse
@Ixtrix Net: Yeah that is definitely the same guy doing both shootings, interesting video, i wonder what’s the deal with the suv’s???
Too many unnecessary lives being lost, i wonder why this guy felt like he had to take the law into his own hands, im sure he wont be the only one either.
@Giddy:
I’ll say as a caveat, in the first video with the sound of shots, Kyle is not clearly visible doing the shooting, but no doubt he’s the one in the clearer 2nd video carrying an illegal firearm and being identified by the people as the shooter. His social media pages are filled with with a fixation on police , which is not a bad thing, but feeds into why he travelled 15 miles armed to tell people to leave the streets. He had been greeted by police earlier in the night and allowed to walk around.
@Giddy: blame CHINA
@James Walsh: so anybody who disagrees with u James is a white suprematist? Bet your fun at parties !
For a bit of balance since the editors don’t appear to have any: the teenager was chased down the street and attacked by an armed mob. He was on the ground receiving a beating when he opened fire. A bit of a stretch to conflate a “a white 17-year old police admirer” with some kind of cold blooded killer.
This is what happens to an old man who doesn’t use a gun to protect himself from the mob. Now imagine if he was a young white man and the mob was armed.
@Ned Gerblansky: Everyone of these rioters and looters need locking up. This sort of carry on is only making Trumps election more inevitable.
@Ned Gerblansky: Ehm, did we watch the same video or have I been misguided? We hear him saying he just killed someone and then flees and that’s when an ‘armed mob’ chase him, and rightly so (albeit at great risk to their safety).
Otherwise, he’d walk into the dead of night and never be held accountable.
Maybe I watched the wrong video?
@Ned Gerblansky: What the hell was a 17 year old gun nut from 20 miles outside Kenosha doing there in the first place? Also, only in the insane asylum called the US would he have access to such a weapon in the first place.
@Barry Taylor: you may have mixed up the timeline based on the multiple angles. He calls the police himself to say he has killed somebody after the incident. The incident starts when a Molotov cocktail is thrown at him. He’s chased down the street until they catch up to him and attack him. This is where he is stomped to the head and hit with a skateboard on the head. He opens fire as he’s lying on his back, hitting one in the head (who you later see in the second video when you hear the shooter calls the police) and one in the chest. A shooter armed with a pistol runs towards him and he is shot in the arm. At this point he flees and calls the police.
@Ned Gerblansky:
except, that’s not what happened : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lRdMi4nUOA
@James Walsh: what the hell are mobs doing on the street attacking innocent business owners? Do you not think your outlook is a bit blinkered through media bias and personal political beliefs?
@Ned Gerblansky: What the hell is a 17 year old doing murdering protesters? Could the fact that he’s a white gun nut be your own set of blinkers?
The mental gymnastics on display here to justify police and white nationalist violence is quite something.
@DJ François: Police were called because Jacob Blake was trespassing and stole a woman’s keys. There was an active arrest warrant out on him for sexual assault. He was armed with a knife and he resisted arrest. I’m not saying that warrants shooting him 7 times, but the narrative we were originally told was “innocent black man breaks up a fight and gets shot by the police”. That’s where the real mental gymnastics took place.
@DJ François: amazing alright and not one article on why (a black) the Minnesota AG withheld body cam footage of the GF case. He didn’t release it because he wanted a swift end to the case, his words. You’ll notice he didn’t say he wanted the correct verdict or justice
@DJ François: What white nationalist violence?? This isnt a race issue, stop trying to form that narrative.
@Edmund Spencer: so shoot him at point blank range 7 times. I never made a judgement on his innocence or guilt that is the job of the courts, not the police nor randomers on the web.
@my name: Yes…. Im so glad to see people who are fully informed of the facts and aren’t just hysterical like dj François here. Heres the tape the AG tried his best to with-hold, unbelievable stuff. Thank god this got leaked
https://youtu.be/c4NDXT6bgWM
@Giddy: reverse the rolls and replace it with white AG (Republican) withholds body cam footage
@my name: Could you imagine the outrage from the Democrats, we’ve been seeing this whole “do as i say, not as i do” alot lately, even on our shores with golfgate recently.
Protests Continue is a strange name.
The Journal should stop allowing people to comment on these type of articles. 2 people died at the hands of a 17 year old white guy and most of the commenters here just want to continue to push the narrative of justifying the shooting of Jacob Blake. It’s really polarising.
@Jen: that’s very true Jen. Comments weren’t allowed (after the incident was finally reported) when a group of black kids beat and stabbed a young white kid. In the interest of equality and all
@my name: Yes, that’s because that LOCAL case was being handled in court. The Journal turns off comments on all local court related articles for legal purposes.
@Olive McClaw: that’s just not 100% accurate though olive. Articles published before anyone was arrested never mind charged had comments closed on them too
@Jen: why does it matter what colour the shooter was?? Stop using colour when describing people. You’re part of the problem, trying to turn this into race war… What colour were the looters he shot?? , I know for a fact one was white.
@Giddy: you’re entitled to your opinion, as am I, but I wholeheartedly believe it’s to do with nothing else but race. I also mentioned his colour because if he was a black kid his skin colour would be plastered everywhere. We’ll agree to disagree so.
@Jen: So when white people are killed by the US police under suspicious circumstances, is that to do with race too? Because that also happens. You just don’t hear about it because the media aren’t obsessed with it.
@Edmund Spencer: that or because white people aren’t as likely to be murdered by the police.
@Jen: Defaulting to racism every time something bad happens to someone is an horrendous way to view the world. And also, I’d suggest reading into police interactions by race and violent crime by race if you want to find out why white people as a group are less likely to get killed by police. Crying racism is way too simplistic. It also conveniently removes personal responsibility.
@Edmund Spencer: OK yeah, I’ll take your points on board.
@Jen: so should the 17 year old just have accepted that he was going to be beat to death? Cause he was attacked my two men, including one who had a gun and another one who threw a moltov cocktail at him. He defended his own life and would have been dead himself if he didn’t kill those people
@Rocky Stefan: Sure.
@Rocky Stefan: we clearly get our news from very different sources.
@Jen: Stop pushing the race narrative its actually complete bs…
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-3.xls
These are only stats for 2016 but you can see that roughly double the amount of white people are killed by a black person, when you take into proportion the demographics, white people are 8 times more likely to be killed by a blackman than for a blackman to be killed by a whiteman..
@Jen: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-6.xls
Are you starting to notice a trend here…. White people are by far the biggest victims, practically the same numbers every single year.
@Jen: sure let’s stop all free speech! Or maybe allow the speech that fits your narrative , because u gotta be right, right?
@Giddy: You’re claiming they were looters because it suits your own extremist agenda? The real question is what the hell a 17 yr old from 20 miles outside the city was doing going around as an armed vigilante in the first place? Where are the parents, did they buy him the gun?
@Jen: If you don’t like the comments DON’T READ THEM . Oh i got it you would like to censor people who you don’t agree with .
@Robert Preston: nah I just mute them. They’re not worth it realistically. Cheers for tip though, I’ll definitely consider it.
Why are they still causing these “protests”
32 people dead so far !
700 million in property damage
@Al.Dunne: If you are white, walk on by, If you are not, get on the ground with your hands up
have your say