Two people are dead and a third is injured after a shooting Tuesday in Kenosha, Wis. where armed citizens intent on protecting local businesses confronted an angry crowd outside a car dealership during the third consecutive night of rioting over the shooting of Jacob Blake.
One person was shot in the head and another in the chest, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. While no arrests have been made, Beth said authorities have been able to identify at least one person involved using social media footage of the incident.
The sheriff’s office is investigating whether the shooting stemmed from a conflict between protestors and a group of men with weapons who were protecting businesses, Beth told the New York Times.
Graphic videos of the incident show a man with a head wound lying in the parking lot of a car dealership. Daily Caller videographer Richie McGinnis can be seen taking off his shirt to compress the head wound and subsequent videos show McGinnis carrying the wounded man toward a hospital.
In a later video a young man can be seen running away from the scene armed with a rifle. The man has now been identified as 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. He is being chased down the street by a group of men who can be heard yelling, “he shot him.” Rittenhouse eventually falls to the ground and opens fire at his pursuers — firing about 15 times in one video. One man, who is holding a pistol, is struck in the arm and sustains a traumatic wound.
In earlier nights rioters set fire to buildings and trucks, causing widespread destruction that led the governor to initiate a state of emergency. More than 100 members of the Wisconsin National Guard have been deployed to the city.
Blake’s mother said on Tuesday that she opposed the destruction that demonstrations were causing in the city.
“I’ve noticed a lot of damage,” she said. “It doesn’t reflect my son or my family.”
Blake is in the hospital in critical condition and was partially paralyzed from a bullet that severed his spinal cord after a Kenosha police officer shot him in the back seven times at close range on Sunday while responding to a domestic violence call.
Video of the incident appears to show Blake walking to a van followed by two police officers with weapons drawn. As Blake tries to get into the van, where his three children are waiting, an officer appears to grab him by the shirt and fires several shots at close range into his back.
Editor’s Note: This post has been updated with new information.