Jacob Blake: Father says man shot in Wisconsin is ‘paralysed’

The black man shot many times in the back by Wisconsin police officers is paralysed from the waist down, his father has said.

Jacob Blake, 29, was shot several times as he went to a car and opened its door in the city of Kenosha on Sunday.

The shooting sparked two nights of protests in the city, with buildings and cars set alight.

His father has now told a US newspaper that his son is paralysed – although doctors do not know if it is permanent.

Jacob Blake Snr told the Chicago Sun Times his son had "eight holes" in his body.

"What justified all those shots?" his father asked. "What justified doing that in front of my grandsons? What are we doing?"

Video footage of Mr Blake's shooting, taken from across the street and shared on social media, shows the father-of-three leaning into the car and an officer grabbing his shirt, with seven shots heard.

His fiancée, Laquisha Booker, described how the children – who witnessed everything as they sat in the back of the car – were screaming as their father was shot.

Speaking to a local NBC channel, she asked why the police would shoot someone "who's not armed, not giving you no problems".

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"You shot him numerous times for no reason, it didn't take all that," she said. "[You] disregard that my kids was in the car at all – and you knew that they were in there because I kept screaming that before y'all made it to the other side of the driver's side to get him in the car.

"I've been yelling that the whole time, let me get my kids. So that's not important to y'all. What's important is killing somebody."

Police said they were responding to a domestic incident, but it is so far unclear who called police and what happened before the video recording began.

But it comes as the US grapples with the treatment of African-Americans at the hands US law enforcement, as well as wider questions about racism in society, following the killing of another black man, George Floyd, in May.

Mr Floyd's death sparked protests around the country, and abroad.

Within hours of Mr Blake's shooting, hundreds of people had marched on Kenosha's police headquarters. Cars were later set alight, and police urged 24-hour businesses to consider closing because of "numerous" calls about armed robberies and shots being fired.

On Monday, Governor Tony Evers called up the National Guard to aid local police, with a curfew imposed on the city of about 100,000 on the south-western shore of Lake Michigan from 20:00 local time (01:00 GMT) until 07:00 on Tuesday.

But some ignored the curfew, and police used tear gas to try to force protesters – some of whom were throwing water bottles – to disperse. Officers, who were backed up by the National Guard, also used rubber bullets and smoke bombs, protesters said.

Some demonstrators were seen attacking cars and property with baseball bats, news agency Reuters reported, while others set cars alight.

Protests have also spread to a number of other cities, including Portland and Minneapolis, where Mr Floyd was killed.

What do we know about the shooting?

Kenosha Police Department said the "officer involved shooting" happened shortly after 17:00 on Sunday. It added that officers had provided "immediate aid" to Mr Blake, who was taken to a hospital in Milwaukee in serious condition.

The person who shot the video, Raysean White, said that before he began taking it, he saw police wrestle with Mr Blake. He said police punched and Tasered Mr Blake.

"Jacob kind of leaned on the car and they proceeded to wrestle hiRead More – Source

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