A protester lights a cigarette on a rubbish truck that was set on fire during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, stirred by the shooting of Jacob Blake by police. Photos / AP
A protester lights a cigarette on a rubbish truck that was set on fire during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, stirred by the shooting of Jacob Blake by police. Photos / AP
A black man shot multiple times, apparently in the back, by police in Wisconsin is paralysed from the waist down and has "eight holes" in his body, the father of victim Jacob Blake said.
The shooting in broad daylight on Monday by police in Kenosha, captured on cellphone video that quickly spread on social media, ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities.
It comes three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police set off demonstrations around the United States and touched off a wider reckoning on race.
Blake's father, also named Jacob Blake, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he didn't know if his 29-year-old son's paralysis would be permanent. The older man was travelling from North Carolina to be with his son, who is being treated in a Milwaukee hospital.
"I want to put my hand on my son's cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I'll be okay," the father told the newspaper. "I'll kiss him with my mask. The first thing I want to do is touch my son."
An American flag falls from its pole as police attempt to secure the area after protesters set fire to the department of corrections building in Kenosha.
Blake's father said that he learned that officers had shot his son eight times and shortly thereafter he watched the video, which appears to show his son being shot in the back.
Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer representing the family, said three of Blake's sons — aged 3, 5 and 8 — were in the car at the time of the shooting. Crump scheduled a news conference in Kenosha with Blake's family members to address the shooting.
The father is slated to speak at a March on Washington commemoration on Saturday organised by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
His father and the victim's grandfather, Jacob Blake snr, was a prominent minister and civil rights leader in the Chicago area who helped organise a march and spoke in support of a comprehensive housing law in Evanston, Illinois, days after the 1968 slaying of the Rev. Martin Luther King.
Volunteers clean up the department of corrections building today.
The officers were placed on administrative leave, which is standard practice in such cases. Authorities released no details about them and did not immediately respond to requests for their service records.
Since the shooting, anger has spilled into the streets of Kenosha and other cities, including Los Angeles, Wisconsin's capital of Madison and in Minneapolis, the epicentre of the Black Lives Matter movement this northern summer following Floyd's death.
Hundreds of protesters defied a curfew, massing in downtown Kenosha. Some set fire to buildings, cars and dumpsters, threw bottles and shot fireworks and then clashed with officers in riot gear, including 125 members of the Wisconsin National Guard, who deployed tear gas as they guarded the courthouse.
A city block was cordoned off today, so officials could survey damage. Several storefronts were badly damaged. Smoke filled the air and visibility was low as firefighters used water cannons on still smoldering buildings.
"Nobody deserves this," said Pat Oertle, owner of Computer Adventure. Computers were stolen, and the store was "destroyed," she said.
"This accomplishes nothing," Oertle said. "This is not justice that they're looking for."
