U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider Reacts To Kenosha Shooting

DEERFIELD, IL—U.S. Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) has issued a statement following the recent officer-involved shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin. On Sunday, an officer with the Kenosha Police Department shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake, a Black man.

Police in the former auto manufacturing center of 100,000 people midway between Milwaukee and Chicago said they were responding to a call about a domestic dispute when they encountered Blake over the weekend.

A man who made a cellphone video of Blake's encounter with police, 22-year-old Raysean White, said he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!" before the gunfire erupted. White, however, said he didn't see a knife in Blake's hands.

Following the shooting, Rep. Schneider issued the following statement:

“Our nation is once more shocked, and a community again devastated by another police shooting of an unarmed Black man—this time in Kenosha, WI, and this time in front of his three young children. The horrific video of the shooting of Jacob Blake is sickeningly all too familiar, and we must ensure that such shootings are never normalized, nor left without a full accounting.

“The Wisconsin Department of Justice is required by law to investigate this shooting, and that investigation must be immediate, comprehensive and transparent. The public deserves the full details behind the circumstances that led to the police shooting of Mr. Blake, and his family and his community deserve full confidence that justice will be served.

“As we all pray for the full recovery of Jacob Blake, and the well being of his family, we also know that Congress can take common sense steps to heal America. The House already passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act back in June. It now falls on Mitch McConnell to take action in the Senate.

“We join our voices with the community of Kenosha, and will continue to stand up and speak out to make clear that Black Lives Matter.”

According to the Kenosha Police Department, officers were dispatched to a residence in the 2800 block of 40th Street after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises.

During the incident, officers said they attempted to arrest Blake, however, he resisted. Law enforcement deployed a taser in an attempt to stop Blake but said the taser was not successful in doing so.

Police said Blake ultimately walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side door and leaned forward. While holding onto Blake’s shirt, police said Officer Rusten Sheskey fired his service weapon seven times into Blake's back. No other officer fired their weapon.

After Blake was shot, medical aid was immediately provided. Flight for Life transported him to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee where he remains at the hospital, police said.

Meanwhile the civil unrest experienced nationwide appears to have only deepened since Blake's shooting and shows no signs of slowing down. Two days after the incident, three people were shot, two fatally during violent protests. On Wednesday, Kenosha County declared a State of Emergency curfew. In response to the continued violence in Kenosha, Congressman Schneider issued the following statement Thursday:

“For the lives and livelihoods tragically lost this week in Kenosha, my heart breaks. Jacob Blake went out to stop a fight, and he was shot point blank in the back seven times, forever left paralyzed from the waist down. Anthony Huber took his skateboard to defend the lives of strangers and lost his own. Joseph Rosenbaum, shot and killed. Our communities are filled with rage. And rightfully so. But violence is not advancing a cause but rather takes so much – dividing and destroying in ways that only beget further destruction and pain.

“The law is not on the side of Kyle Rittenhouse. At 17, he was too young to open carry in Wisconsin. He alone decided to bring that gun into a crowd, to pull the trigger and to senselessly end their lives. We are left to ask how such violence could have been avoided in the first place.

“It is said that he who seeks vengeance must first dig two graves. America cannot respond to the violence of extremists by engaging in the type of warfare that domestic terrorists like the Boogaloos desperately crave.

“Rather, let us listen to those like Julia Jackson, the mother of Jacob Blake, who asked everyone to ‘take a moment to examine your hearts… I have been praying, even before this, for the healing of our country… Let’s use our hearts, our love, and our intelligence to work together to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other. America is great when we behave greatly.’

“We must now rise to the moment to ‘behave greatly.’ If we succeed in uniting together as one nation, in healing, in honoring the lives of Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others, we will live up to the vision of our founders and the values of our faiths, and make a better nation and more secure future for our children.”

The officer who shot Blake, Rusten Sheskey, has been a law enforcement officer with the Kenosha Police Department for seven years, the police department confirmed.

During the investigation following the incident, police said Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession. According to police, Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) agents recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.

DCI is leading this investigation and is assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wisconsin State Patrol and Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office. According to the Kenosha Police Department, all involved law enforcement are fully cooperating with DCI during this investigation. The involved officers have been placed on administrative leave.

Investigators said they are continuing to review evidence and determine the facts of this incident and will turn over investigative reports to a prosecutor following a complete and thorough investigation.

AP News contributed to this story.