Kenosha

Racial justice issues remain front and center in 2021.

A few days after the start of the new year, the Kenosha County district attorney announced that the officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back won’t face charges.

At the beginning of January, the Kenosha County district attorney announced that he would not criminally charge Officer Rusten Sheskey, who shot Jacob Blake in the back multiple times while responding to a domestic violence complaint. Blake was paralyzed from the waist down.

The DA said Sheskey’s use of force was acceptable under the circumstances, and that Skeskey had a valid self-defense claim that would prevent the DA from prevailing at trial.

Kenosha Police officer Rustin Sheskey may have avoided local criminal charges yesterday, in a decision announced by Kenosha County District Attorney Mike Gravely.

But there could be more legal trouble for Sheskey and the Kenosha Police Department.

Updated 4:39 p.m. CST

A Wisconsin prosecutor announced Tuesday that he will not file criminal charges against a white police officer who shot a Black man in the back in Kenosha last summer, leaving him paralyzed and setting off sometimes violent protests in the city.

Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley is expected to annouce his decision Tuesday afternoon on whether to charge the officer responsible for shooting Jacob Blake last summer leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. 

On Monday, the Blake family and Kenosha community leaders held a press conference to demand Officer Rusten Sheskey be fired, charged and convicted. A few dozen supporters joined them.

Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., said he wants him charged with attempted murder. 

It's been nearly four months since Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey severely wounded Jacob Blake, Jr., a Black resident, while trying to take Blake into custody.

Blake's family and their supporters are still urging Kenosha County District Attorney Mike Graveley to issue criminal charges against the officer, and for the police department to fire Sheskey.

A Kenosha County court commissioner has ruled that there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for Kyle Rittenhouse. He’s the 17-year-old white Illinois teenager accused of killing two men during a night of unrest in Kenosha, which followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who is Black.

Rittenhouse is charged with six counts, including homicide and attempted homicide, for fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz on Aug. 25. 

Incumbent Donald Trump will make his final Wisconsin visit of the 2020 presidential campaign Monday night at the airport in Kenosha.

The president talks about Kenosha at many events, referring to the civil unrest that occurred in late August after a Kenosha police officer, Rustin Sheskey, severely wounded a Black man, Jacob Blake, as police were responding to what they say was a domestic incident.   

A 38-mile walk that started in Kenosha in the early morning hours ended at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee Tuesday night. About 25 people participated in the walk, organized in support of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by a white Kenosha police officer in August. Blake was paralyzed from the waist down and was recently released from the hospital.

Updated Tuesday at 1:57 p.m. CT

The family of the Black man severely wounded by a police officer in Kenosha in August is leading a 30 mile march to Milwaukee, which began just after midnight on Tuesday. The family wants to send a message to prosecutors and voters.

It’s been just over five weeks since a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times.

The group “Justice For Jacob” is calling for the immediate firing and indictment of the officer, in addition to other measures the group says would end police violence and systemic racism.

To drive home the message, organizers are holding a 24-hour rally scheduled to end Monday at noon in downtown Kenosha. The gathering attracted both people from the Kenosha community and out of state.

Some relatives and supporters of Jacob Blake, the Black man severely wounded by Kenosha police in a shooting last month, are raising concerns about a new step in the state of Wisconsin's review process. The concerns came up last Thursday night during another visit to Kenosha by civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Updated Friday at 11:37 a.m. CT  

Four people filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday demanding that Facebook prevent militias and hate groups from using the site, after a militia group used the platform to draw armed people to protests in Wisconsin last month that left two people dead.