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Family of Jacob Blake Demands Arrest of Officers Who Shot Him in the Back

HeadlineAug 26, 2020

The violence came on the third night of unrest in Kenosha following the police shooting on Sunday of Jacob Blake, an unarmed 29-year-old Black man. An officer shot Blake seven times in the back as he was getting into a car. His three young children witnessed the shooting. Blake was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two women before the shooting, but the police have not explained why they went after him. He remained hospitalized in serious but stable condition Monday. His lawyers said Tuesday he is paralyzed from the waist down.

Patrick Salvi II: “He had a bullet go through some or all of his spinal cord, at least one bullet. He has holes in his stomach. He had to have nearly his entire colon and small intestines removed. He suffered damage to his kidney and liver, and was also shot in the arm.”

Members of Jacob Blake’s family spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time since the weekend police shooting, calling for the firing and arrest of the officers responsible. And they called for more peaceful protests. This is Jacob Blake’s sister Letetra Widman.

Letetra Widman: “This is nothing new. I’m not sad. I’m not sorry. I’m angry, and I’m tired. I haven’t cried one time. I stopped crying years ago. I am numb. I have been watching police murder people that look like me for years.”

After headlines, we’ll get the latest from Wisconsin and speak with Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin’s first African American lieutenant governor.

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