Kenosha Hit By Damage After Jacob Blake Police Shooting: Photos
KENOSHA, WI — The morning after Kenosha police shot and seriously wounded Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, the city woke up to the aftermath of a night of protests and civil unrest.
News of Sunday's shooting quickly spread after an eyewitness posted video of the police shooting on Twitter. (As a caution to viewers, the content of the video contains graphic and dramatic footage.)
In the video, Blake is seen walking away from officers around a parked SUV. The video shows Blake with his back turned and officers pointing guns at him. At one point in the video, Blake is seen opening the SUV's driver's door.
>> National Guard Called To Kenosha Following Jacob Blake Shooting
A moment later, the video captures an officer trying to hold Blake's shirt. Video shows Blake pulling away, and several officers firing multiple gunshots at him. Video shows Blake collapsing into the driver's seat of the car.
Blake is currently in intensive care at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee after he was transported there Sunday via Flight for Life.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers tweeted Sunday night about the shooting in Kenosha, saying: "Tonight, Jacob Blake was shot in the back multiple times, in broad daylight, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Kathy and I join his family, friends, and neighbors in hoping earnestly that he will not succumb to his injuries."
Protesters overnight took to the streets of Kenosha, with some causing damage at a scale beyond what local residents on the street Monday morning could ever recall seeing.
Local authorities parked garbage trucks to the left and right of the courthouse along 56th Street to help guard the public building from further damage.
Armed police in riot gear stood before the front steps of the Kenosha County Courthouse, which was closed Monday for safety precautions.
On Monday morning, the burned-out hulks of several garbage trucks remained. Others had smashed-out windows.
The Kenosha County Administrative Building just west of the courthouse had its storefront windows smashed in. Workers from Rasch Construction swept up the glass, ever mindful that pepper bullets were mixed in with the shards. "It'd ruin your morning," one worker told Patch as he was sweeping up the front walk.
A block south, workers were hurriedly boarding up the first-floor windows of Reuther Central High School in the event Monday night sees more unrest.
Mangia Wine Bar, just south of the courthouse at 5717 Sheridan Road, had closed in January just before the COVID-19 pandemic. The building was torched and smashed during the overnight unrest, leaving a charred restaurant space and wrecked storefront as shards of glass lay on the ground Monday.
The most dramatic of all the damage from overnight occurred at the Car Source used car dealership a block farther south at 59th Street and Sheridan Road. The car lot, which typically held about 50 cars at the busy downtown intersection, was destroyed as some protesters set the entire car lot's inventory ablaze late Sunday into early Monday.
Fire crews walked among the charred frames of cars, trucks and SUVs as bystanders looked in astonishment at the extent of the damage.
Several police cars sustained smashed windows and body damage in the unrest overnight.
The courthouse on Monday had been tagged in black and red graffiti, much of which was profane and directed against law enforcement.
A message written on the courthouse's south facade read, "They kill us because they fear us. Honor the dead."
This article originally appeared on the Mount Pleasant-Sturtevant Patch
