Police are seeking information after two people were killed and one wounded amid protests Tuesday night in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Social media photos and videos showed a young man toting an AR-15 assault rifle, thought by some to be a member of a vigilante white supremacist “boogaloo” group called upon by its members to defend the city against Black Lives Matter protesters outraged by the police shooting of unarmed black man Jacob Blake earlier this week.
The Washington Post reports: “Two people were killed and one was seriously wounded by gunfire late Tuesday at a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake Jr., Kenosha police said early Wednesday. The shootings came after a confrontation between protesters and armed men who said they were protecting a gas station, the New York Times reported. Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that police are searching for a man seen in video footage holding a long gun.”
The Guardian reports: Social media users posted a series of images including video that appeared to show the same individual at key points during the confrontation, including interacting with police in a tactical vehicle who say they “appreciate” the alleged vigilantes’ help and give them bottled water. … In these pictures, the man, who appears to be in his late teens or early 20s, carries an assault-style rifle, a distinctive black and orange shoulder bag, wearing what appear to be purple nitrile gloves of the kind used by first aiders and hospital staff. … The footage shows the same individual with the same distinctive bag and gloves appearing holding a weapon and approaching the spot where a young white man without a shirt has fallen with a gunshot wound to the head. … Other footage, from different angles, then shows what appears to be the same man jogging down a street being pursued by others. … The alleged gunman is finally seen heading north towards several police tactical vehicles, with his arms raised as the tactical vehicles drive by him.”
Warning: some of the footage is graphic.
