Police officer in Jacob Blake shooting revealed as protests continue in Wisconsin
Video report by ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore
The police officer who shot a black man in Wisconsin which has led to riots across the state has been revealed.
Austen Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha Police Department, shot Jacob Blake while holding onto his shirt after officers first unsuccessfully used a Taser.
State agents later recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of the vehicle, the Wisconsin Justice Department said.
The man who said he posted the widely circulated mobile phone footage of Mr Blake’s shooting said he heard officers yell “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before they opened fire.
He said he did not see a knife in Mr Blake’s hands. State authorities did not say Mr Blake threatened anyone with the knife.
Mr Blake, 29, was shot in the back seven times as he leaned into his vehicle, where three of his children were seated inside.
Kenosha police have said little about what happened other than that they were responding to a domestic dispute.
Sports stars have boycotted fixtures in support of Mr Blake, who has been left paralysed by the incident.
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.
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.”
Mr Scott said he cradled a lifeless victim in his arms, and a woman started performing CPR, but “I don’t think he made it”.
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,” Mr 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?” Mr Barnes said. “People treat that like it’s some kind of normal activity that people are walking around with assault rifles.”