INVESTIGATORS of a shooting by a white police officer that left a Black man, Jacob Blake Jr., paralyzed and the town of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the United States, torn by civil strife found a knife belonging to Blake at the scene of the confrontation, the state attorney general said Wednesday.

The incident sparked three nights of civil unrest that has included a wave of arson, widespread vandalism and a separate deadly shooting that claimed two lives in Kenosha, a city of about 100,000 residents on Lake Michigan.

In the first official details of Sunday’s shooting released by the Wisconsin Justice Department, which is probing the incident, Attorney General Josh Kaul said the knife was recovered from the driver-side front floorboard of the car Blake was leaning into when he was shot in the back.

Kaul also told a news conference that Blake, during the course of the investigation, had “admitted that he had a knife in his possession.”

Kaul did not describe the knife or say whether it had anything to do with why the officer, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha police department identified as Rusten Sheskey, had opened fire on Blake.

Kaul’s press briefing came shortly before the U.S. Justice Department announced it had opened its own federal civil rights inquiry into the shooting, to be conducted by the FBI in cooperation with Wisconsin’s state criminal investigators and other agencies.

According to Kaul’s account of events leading up to the Blake shooting, city police confronted Blake when they were called to the home of a woman who reported that her boyfriend was present “and was not supposed to be on the premises.”

The location he gave for the residence corresponds with the address of the woman identified in media reports as Blake’s fiancee, Laquisha Booker.

During the incident, Kaul said, police tried to arrest Blake, using a Taser stun gun in a failed attempt to subdue him.

Blake, according to the attorney general, then walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side door and leaned forward, as officer Sheskey, clutching Blake’s shirt, fired his weapon seven times at Blake’s back.

Kaul said no other police officers fired their weapons. The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave.

Bystanders captured the encounter in video footage that has since gone viral, unleashing public outrage at the latest in a long series of instances in which police have been accused of using indiscriminate lethal force against African Americans.

Kaul said police in Kenosha are not equipped with body cameras.

A lawyer for Blake’s family, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, issued a statement late Wednesday saying Blake “did nothing to provoke police” and was “only intending to get his children out of a volatile situation” at the time.

“Witnesses confirm that he was not in possession of a knife and didn’t threaten officers in any way,” said Crump, who also represents the families of other Black people killed by police, including the family George Floyd, who died May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Three of Blake’s young sons — aged 3, 5 and 8 — were in the vehicle at the time and witnessed their father being gunned down, Crump said. Blake has a total of six children.

According to Crump, Blake was struck by four of the seven gunshot rounds fired at him. Bullets shattered some of his vertebrae, leaving Blake paralyzed from the waist down, possibly permanently, his lawyers said. He also suffered wounds to his stomach, intestines, kidney and liver and will require multiple operations to recover, they said.

Blake’s family and protesters have demanded the officers involved in the shooting be immediately fired and prosecuted.

The Division of Criminal Investigation under the Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating the case. The division aims to provide an incident report to the prosecutor within 30 days.

U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican whose campaign for a second term has focused largely on law-and-order rhetoric, said he spoke with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, about efforts to restore order in Kenosha and that the governor agreed to accept U.S. law enforcement support.

Trump said he’s sending federal officers to Kenosha to address the unrest there.

“We will NOT stand for looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on American streets,” the president wrote in a pair of tweets. “TODAY, I will be sending federal law enforcement and the National Guard to Kenosha, WI to restore LAW and ORDER!”

Trump drew sharp criticism from officials in Oregon earlier this summer for sending federal agents to Portland on a mission he said was designed to help quell civil unrest there but that many said only inflamed the situation.

Trump’s Democratic challenger in the Nov. 3 presidential election, former Vice President Joe Biden, said he spoke Wednesday to Blake’s family, “and I told them justice must and will be done” while condemning violent protest in Blake’s name, calling it “needless.”

Evers already activated the National Guard and tweeted late Tuesday that he planned to increase its presence “to ensure individuals can exercise their right safely, protect state buildings and critical infrastructure, and support first responders and firefighters.”

Demonstrations in the city have continued for three days in response to the shooting, which have turned violent and chaotic.

Two people were killed and a third was injured in a shooting late Tuesday during the demonstrations. Police on Wednesday arrested a juvenile in connection with the two deaths.

Evers has declared a state of emergency and said Wednesday that the number of Wisconsin National Guard members deployed in Kenosha would be 500, up from 125 on Monday and 250 on Tuesday.

“I know folks across our state will be making their voices heard in Kenosha and in communities across Wisconsin,” Evers said in a statement. “Every person should be able to express their anger and frustration by exercising their First Amendment rights and report on these calls to action without any fear of being unsafe.”

The civil unrest comes amid months of protests across the nation — and around the world — over the killings of Black people by police, including Floyd and Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was fatally shot in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 13.

Blake was raised in Evanston, a town outside the city of Chicago. His uncle, Justin, said Blake moved to Kenosha several years ago for a job and for his family.

His family has a long history of community activism.

Blake’s grandfather was a pastor at a church in Evanston and a local leader in the civil rights movement. He was also a prolific campaigner for affordable housing and led his congregation in constructing a housing block in the city.

Justin said Blake continued this tradition of public service and volunteered with Black Urban Recycling — a charity that collects aluminium cans and recycles them to raise money for a community center in Chicago.

Court records show there was an active arrest warrant against Blake, related to charges of sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct. But it is unclear if police were aware of this at the time of his shooting.

(SD-Agencies)

holding a knife.

A second cellphone video that emerged Tuesday showed Blake on the ground before he was shot with officers standing over him.

“Several witnesses said that the police seemed to be the aggressors from the moment they got on the scene. And the video shows what happened,” said Crump, who also represents the families of other Black people killed by police, including the family George Floyd, who died May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police. “He was walking away. He wasn’t posing a threat to them or anything like that. So, it seems yet again that we have police officers who are using excessive, unnecessary force in shooting an unarmed Black man in America.”

Blake was raised in Evanston, a town outside the city of Chicago. His uncle, Justin, said Blake moved to Kenosha several years ago for a job and for his family.

His family has a long history of community activism. Blake’s grandfather was a pastor at a church in Evanston and a local leader in the civil rights movement. He was also a prolific campaigner for affordable housing and led his congregation in constructing a housing block in the city.

Justin said Blake continued this tradition of public service and volunteered with Black Urban Recycling — a charity that collects aluminium cans and recycles them to raise money for a community centre in Chicago.

Court records show there was an active arrest warrant against Blake, related to charges of sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct. But it is unclear if police were aware of this at the time of his shooting.

The shooting sparked outrage in Kenosha as protesters gathered at the scene of the shooting Sunday night. Several businesses in the area were vandalized and about 50 cars were set on fire at a local car lot.

Kenosha County on Monday implemented a second straight night of curfew for residents. Governor Evers also deployed 125 members of the state’s National Guard to support local law enforcement in an effort to “protect critical infrastructure” and maintain public safety.

“I know folks across our state will be making their voices heard in Kenosha and in communities across Wisconsin,” Evers said in a statement. “Every person should be able to express their anger and frustration by exercising their First Amendment rights and report on these calls to action without any fear of being unsafe.”

There were tense standoffs between police and protesters Monday outside the county courthouse after the city’s curfew went into effect. Several dozen bottles were reportedly thrown at police, who deployed tear gas and fired back with rubber bullets.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has ordered a curfew overnight and called in the National Guard to protect property. Protestors ignored that edict and took to the streets, chanting “No justice, no peace.”

The civil unrest comes amid months of protests across the nation — and around the world — over the killings of Black people by police, including Floyd and Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky home, March 13.

“That’s why you have people protesting not only in Wisconsin,” Crump said on “GMA,” “they’re starting to protest all over America, saying ‘Enough is enough. When will Black lives matter?”

(SD-Agencies)