Jacob Blake, a man shot seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been paralyzed and his family is hoping for “a miracle,” their attorneys said.
“It’s going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again,” Benjamin Crump told reporters.
Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., was among the family members who spoke to reporters. He described the shooting as a “senseless attempted murder.”
“They shot my son seven times … seven times like he didn’t matter, but my son matters,” Jacob Blake Sr. said. “He’s a human being and he matters.”
Blake suffered multiple injuries, including a gunshot wound to one arm, damage to his kidney, liver and spinal cord, said Patrick Salvi Jr., another family attorney.
“He had a bullet go through some or all of his spinal cord, at least one bullet. He has holes in his stomach. He had to have nearly his entire colon and small intestines removed,” Salvi added, saying the family will file a civil lawsuit against the police department over the shooting.
A new 24-second video shows Blake struggling with police officers near the back of his SUV as a group of individuals surrounds them. Blake then walks around the front of the vehicle followed by two officers and approaches the driver’s door moments before the shooting, according to the video.
It’s unclear what prompted the interaction but the video shows a new vantage point of the moments before he was shot seven times by police officers.
“All my grandson asks repeatedly is ‘Why did police shoot my daddy in the back?'” Jacob Blake Sr. told reporters. Jacob Blake had his 3-, 5- and 8-year-old sons, in the vehicle.
The shooting has spurred protests and unrest in the state, prompting Gov. Tony Evers to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday and the deployment of an additional 125 Wisconsin National Guard troops to Kenosha.
Ahead of an expected new round of protests, Kenosha County declared another state of emergency curfew from 8 p.m. Sheriff David Beth asked “the public to stay off the streets for their safety.”
After demonstrators torched cars and set buildings ablaze on Monday night, Blake’s mother called for peaceful protests and said her son would not be pleased with “the violence and the destruction.”
Julia Jackson said the damage in the city from the unrest “doesn’t reflect my son or my family.”
She also asked for prayers not only for her son but for healing across the country.
“Clearly you can see right now that I have beautiful brown skin but take a look at your hand and whatever shade it is, it is beautiful as well,” Jackson said. “How dare we hate what we are? We are humans.”
“No one is superior to the other. The only Supreme Being is God himself. Please let’s begin to pray for healing for our nation. We are the United States, have we been united?” she added.
