President Donald Trump will pay a visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week to meet with local law enforcement officers and survey “damage from the recent riots,” the White House says.
The city has been rocked over the past week by unrest sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake by a white officer.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said that the president’s schedule for the Sept. 1 visit hasn’t yet been fully outlined.
Trump was asked on Aug. 28 if he had plans to visit the city, which has since received help from National Guard soldiers from neighboring states and the federal government to bring the violence and unrest sparked by the shooting under control.
“Probably so,” Trump told reporters during his visit to Orange, Texas, to assess the damage from Hurricane Laura. “We’ve had tremendous success as you know,” he said of the law enforcement sent to help the local police.
“We were finally able to get the go-ahead from the local authorities to send in the National Guard. Within a few minutes of the guard, everybody cleared out and it became safe.”
The police officer who shot Blake, Rusten Sheskey, has since been placed on administrative leave and is under investigation by the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation under the state’s Department of Justice.
Sheskey shot Blake seven times after Blake resisted officers’ attempts to arrest him after they received a call from his former girlfriend for help. Blake had a warrant out for his arrest and a restraining order stipulating that he wasn’t to approach his ex-girlfriend after an alleged sexual assault.
A criminal complaint obtained by The Epoch Times showed that Blake was charged in July with trespassing, third-degree sexual assault, and disorderly conduct.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Blake admitted to having a knife in his possession at the time of the shooting. Department agents found a knife on the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s car.
Following the shooting, Blake was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where he remains. Family attorneys told reporters on Aug. 25 that Blake had undergone multiple surgeries.
The 29-year-old’s mother, Julia Jackson, has denounced Sheskey’s use of force, saying that her family is “very hurt” and “quite frankly disgusted.”
