Wisconsin attorney general identifies police officer who shot Jacob Blake

At a press conference on Wednesday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul identified Rusten Sheskey of the Kenosha Police Department as the officer who shot in the back and severely injured Jacob Blake.

Video Transcript

JOSH KAUL: On the evening of Sunday August 23, 2020, Kenosha police department officers were dispatched to a residence in the 2800 block of 40th Street, after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises. During the incident, officers attempted to arrest Jacob S. Blake, age 29. Law enforcement deployed a taser to attempt to stop Mr. Blake, but the taser was not successful in stopping him.

Mr. Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver's side door, and leaned forward. While holding onto Mr. Blake's shirt, Officer Rusten Sheskey fired his service weapon seven times. Officer Sheskey fired the weapon into Mr. Blake's back. No other officer fired their weapon. The Kenosha police department does not have body cameras, and therefore, the officers were not wearing body cameras. The shooting officer, Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey has been a law enforcement officer with the Kenosha police department for seven years.

During the investigation following the initial incident, Mr. Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession. And DCI agents, that's the Division of Criminal Investigation, recovered a knife from the driver's side floorboard of Mr. Blake's vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.