[imagesource: AP Photo/David Goldman]
There are 69 days until America votes on its next president, and the country has never been more divided in recent history.
On the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, anger over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man who is currently paralysed after police fired seven times from close range into his back, has now turned deadly.
With protests around the murder of George Floyd, and the Black Lives Matter movement, still ongoing in many parts of the country, the past few days have seen increasingly violent confrontations in Kenosha.
If you haven’t yet seen the video of Blake being shot, a warning that it contains graphic violence:
A Wisconsin police officer yesterday shot Jacob Blake 7 times in the back. His 3 children were in the car, watching their father being shot.
This is America.
On August 28th, we will be marching against police brutality in Washington, DC, demanding justice. pic.twitter.com/ibrPD66Y1t
— Martin Luther King III (@OfficialMLK3) August 24, 2020
Last night, reports the Washington Post, two people were killed, and one seriously wounded, after protesters squared off with armed men who said they were protecting a gas station:
Shots were fired around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, police said. After the first shots, a young White man carrying a rifle began running north on Sheridan Road, away from a crowd of protesters. Video shows the armed man fall to the ground and then fire multiple rounds into the crowd. Two more people fell to the ground, one shot in the arm and the other in the chest, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Another graphic video shows a man with blood running down the back of his neck and bystanders shouting that he had been shot in the head.
In the footage below, you can see the crowd chasing the suspect:
(Warning, Graphic/Violent)
A crowd chases a suspected shooter down in Kenosha. He trips and falls, then turns with the gun and fires several times. Shots can be heard fired elsewhere as well, corroborating reports of multiple shooters tonight #Kenosha #KenoshaRiots pic.twitter.com/qqsYWmngFW— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) August 26, 2020
If you want a breakdown of how the shooting unfolded, this Twitter thread is a good place to start:
Recap from #kenosha. TW: Violence.
Shooter is coordinating with officers prior to the incidents (he’s waving to them in this video). pic.twitter.com/yIWWOU5oUo
— Office of Protestor Accountability (@koush) August 26, 2020
As for the alleged shooter’s social media presence – well, this doesn’t seem all that surprising:
Shooter has been identified (I’ve redacted it) and has a Totally Normal and Not Unhinged Facebook profile. pic.twitter.com/IWcMOZhBWH
— Office of Protestor Accountability (@koush) August 26, 2020
Armed men on the scene, many of whom were dressed in military garb, said that they responded to Facebook posts calling for help to protect businesses from being attacked or looted.
The Guardian with this:
David Beth, the county sheriff, said… people describing themselves as belonging to a militia had been patrolling Kenosha’s streets in recent nights but he did not know if the shooter was involved with such a group.
“They’re a militia,” Beth told reporters. “They’re like a vigilante group.”
Meanwhile, America (or at least part of it) mourns another black man, shot by police, while the cameras are rolling.
