Police Officer Rusten Sheskey has told investigators that it wasn’t just his life he was defending when he fired his weapon seven times at Jacob Blake last month in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He said he used deadly force during the chaotic encounter because he was afraid Blake, while attempting to flee the scene, was trying to kidnap a child in the backseat of the vehicle.
“He’s got my kid. He’s got my keys,” Sheskey heard a woman say, according to attorney Brendan Matthews, who is representing the officer. If Sheskey had allowed Blake to drive away and something happened to the child “the question would have been ‘why didn’t you do something?'” Matthews said.
Raysean White, who shot video of the encounter, told CNN’s Erin Burnett he twice heard police tell Blake to “drop the knife,” but that he did not see a knife in Blake’s hand. White disputed other aspects of the police account, but said it was possible some things occurred before he began witnessing the incident unfold.
The police version of events leading up to the shooting bore some similarity to an encounter allegedly involving Blake at the same address three months earlier.
In that case, a woman who described Blake as her ex-boyfriend said he took her car and debit card without her permission and made $1,000 in fraudulent withdrawals, according to court records. She told police at the time that Blake did not have a car and that he would not tell her where he was living, the court records state.
Blake was not charged with taking the car or money, but was charged with
sexual assault and other offenses in connection with the incident. He was wanted in connection with those charges at the time of the shooting.