A teenager identified as Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested and charged with homicide on Wednesday after gunfire killed two people and wounded a third during protests over the police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, court officials said.
The lakeside city has been rocked by civil unrest since Sunday, when police shot Jacob Blake, 29, in the back at close range. That incident, captured on video, has reignited protests over racism and police use of force in the United States.
The third night of protests erupted in gunfire shortly before midnight Tuesday.
The violence prompted some elected officials to call for a reinforcement of National Guard troops or the deployment of federal law enforcement officers.
Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested on a warrant in Illinois and charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Kenosha, a Lake County court official said.
It is pertinent to mention here that protests erupted in Kenosha in the US state of Wisconsin after police shot an apparently unarmed Black man multiple times in the back, according to the state governor, prompting authorities to impose a curfew.
Read More: Black man shot in back by police in US state of Wisconsin
The incident on Sunday added to continuing outrage and protests in the United States and abroad against police brutality and racism since the death on May 25 of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The victim in Kenosha, identified by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers as Jacob Blake, was hospitalized in serious condition.
Leave a Comment