Two people were fatally shot and a third wounded during rioting Tuesday night in Kenosha, WI as protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake continued, and police have reportedly arrested a suspect, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The DailyDot.com reported that the suspected shooter is a 17-year-old from Illinois who apparently fled the state following the shooting. The Sun-Times report said the suspect, identified as Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois, was arrested there by police. Antioch is on the Illinois-Wisconsin state line about 15 miles from Kenosha, which is on the west shore of Lake Michigan.
There is at least one video that caught the shooting as it happened, and that video has been posted on YouTube. That individual was also apparently captured in a different video.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported “hundreds of Black Lives Matter demonstrators” took to the streets for a third night of “unrest” that included clashes with police and what the newspaper called “armed counter-protesters.” Demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at police in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse.
The Washington Examiner is reporting that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has accepted President Donald Trump’s offer to send federal law enforcement to Kenosha to assist, and the Washington Times says Trump has ordered the National Guard and federal agents to the scene.
Protests that have been ongoing through the summer in the wake of the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis gained new momentum from the Blake shooting. Riots have been declared in Portland, Oregon and there have been continuing protests in another Northwest hotspot, Seattle, Washington.
The Sun-Times said investigators are trying to determine whether at least one of the fatal shootings was connected to what was described as a “a confrontation between protesters and the group of armed men.” In one video, several demonstrators can be seen in a face-to-face confrontation with several armed men at a gas station. The armed individuals were carrying semiautomatic rifles, and at least one protester appeared to be trying to provoke an argument.
