The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation said the incident stemmed from a domestic dispute.
Officers arrived and attempted to arrest Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, and used a Taser in a failed attempt to stop him, the DCI said. Blake walked around his vehicle, “opened the driver’s side door, and leaned forward,” the agency said.
Kenosha Officer Rusten Sheskey, who has been with the department for seven years, then fired seven times into Blake’s back, the agency said. No other officer fired their weapon.
The agency said Blake admitted he had a knife in his possession, and law enforcement agents said they recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s vehicle.
The release is the first official police version of events but still leaves gaping holes in its timeline and only the outlines of an explanation. It does not indicate why police moved to arrest Blake, whether he brandished or threatened to use the knife, or why Sheskey shot so many times into Blake’s back, and it does not mention his children in the vehicle or other family members standing just feet away. —CNN
