Jacob Blake news - live: Family calls for peaceful protest after no charges brought against Kenosha officer

Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen charged with fatally shooting two and wounding a third during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Appearing in court with his lawyer by video conference for the hearing, the teen, who is now 18 years old, is free on $2m cash bond.

Mr Rittenhouse, who was 17 when he brought a rifle to a protest in Kenosha and killed two protesters and wounded a third in what he claims was self-defence, was released on bond in November after conservatives rallying to his cause helped raise the bail money. 

The family of Jacob Blake has made an emotional demand for racial justice in the nation, declaring: “This is real, America.”

The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe filed this report in August.

Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois is set to appear for an arraignment at 1pm CT on Tuesday in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Mr Rittenhouse is charged with homicide and attempted homicide for fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounding a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz on 25 August during a night of unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

He will plead not guilty to the charges.

From the Associated Press: 

[Jacob] Blake’s father led a march through the city Monday evening, calling on people to “make noise” and be “heard around the world.”

“(Sheskey) tried to kill my son and could have killed my grandchildren,” Jacob Blake Sr. said during a news conference before the march. “He shot him seven times in his back unjustifiably.”

The family said it’s taken too long for a charging decision, and the precautions suggest that Sheskey won’t be charged.

“What is the National Guard for?” Jacob Blake Sr. said. “They going to deliver mail? Deliver ice cream? What do you think they’re here for?”

Tanya McLean, executive director of the community organization Leaders of Kenosha and a friend of the Blake family, said as Monday evening’s march was kicking off that violence isn’t acceptable.

“No matter what the decision is, we are seeking nonviolence,” she said. “We want everybody to come out, make as much noise as you want, but we don’t want any destruction of property or businesses. We are for nonviolence. Anything else is not acceptable for this community.”

When authorities in Wisconsin named Rusten Sheskey as the officer who shot Mr Blake, they also offered an account of the incident. Andrew Buncombe reported for The Independent at the time.

Officials have claimed that police were called on Sunday night to a residence after a woman caller said her boyfriend was present and that he should not have been on the premises. They said the young man was shot by Mr Sheskey as the officer held onto his shirt, and that no other officer was involved in the shooting.

Investigators also claimed Mr Blake told them he had a knife on the floor of his vehicle and that officers had tried to use a Taser on him but that it failed to stop him.

“The taser was not successful in stopping him,” said Wisconsin attorney general Josh Kaul at a press conference on Wednesday. “Mr Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side to work and leaned forward.

“While holding on to Mr Blake’s shirt. Officer Sheshkey fired his service weapon seven times. Officer Sheshkey fired the weapon into Mr Blake’s back.”

Mr Kaul said that “following the initial incident”, Mr Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession, and that officers recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Mr Blake’s vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.

Nylah Burton wrote for The Independent in August: “In America, the punishment for petty crime or even assault — and the charges against Blake may not even have merit, but again, that’s besides the point — is not execution. But in America, the punishment for being Black and daring to have a beating heart, daring to walk this earth alive and breathing… for this, the punishment is all too often execution.”

As protests and unrest gripped Kenosha in the days after the shooting of Mr Blake, a mix of civil rights demonstrators, anarchists and right-wing militias took to the streets. A second shooting incident occurred leaving two men dead and a third wounded. 

Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager, will enter a not guilty plea to homicide and other counts from the 25 August shooting at an arraignment in the city at 1pm Central Time on Tuesday.

Reuters reports: 

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting two men and wounding a third at a demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August, is expected to plead not guilty to all counts at an arraignment on Tuesday, his lawyer said.

Rittenhouse was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and five other criminal counts related to the shootings, which occurred on Aug. 25 at a demonstration that followed the fatal shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer days earlier.

Rittenhouse, who faces a trial in Kenosha County, will plead not guilty to all counts at the hearing, scheduled for 1 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), his lawyer Mark Richards told Reuters in an email.

The teenager was freed after his attorneys posted his $2 million bond in November. The source of the money was unclear, but his attorneys had led a drive to raise the funds from donations.

Rittenhouse's lawyers have said Rittenhouse, who turned 18 on Sunday, acted in self defense when he opened fire with a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle at the protest.