Kenosha Police said early Wednesday morning they are looking for a man allegedly armed with a long gun after two people were shot and killed overnight and a third injured during violent riots over the shooting of Jacob Blake.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, one victim had been shot in the head and another in the chest late Tuesday, just before midnight.
The victims have not been identified.
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth told the outlet didn’t know where the other person was shot, but video posted on social media suggest someone had been wounded in the arm in the Wisconsin city.
No one has been apprehended, but Beth said he believed at least one person would be taken into custody soon based on video footage police have reviewed.
“I feel very confident we’ll have him in a very short time,” Beth said.
The shooting came on the third night of violent protests that have torn through Kenosha.
It followed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows stating Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) rejected offers from the White House for additional National Guard help to deal with the unrest convulsing the city, as Breitbart News reported.
It’s unclear whether the man was a part of the Kenosha riot, or who shot him.
However, according to independent journalist and investigative reporter Drew Hernandez, a car was set afire by rioters at the parking lot where the man was shot, “in retaliation.” Such an event could indicate the man was shot by the owner of the business, but that has not been confirmed, as Breitbart News reported.
“Kenosha has been marred by violent unrest since police shot Jacob Blake several times in the back while responding to a domestic incident on Sunday,” the UPI reported. “An eyewitness said that police told Blake to ‘drop the knife,’ though he himself did not witness Blake carrying a knife.”
Kenosha police later confirmed the fatalities and announced the search has begun for the shooter(s).
Meanwhile Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called for calm while declaring a state of emergency under which he doubled the National Guard deployment in Kenosha from 125 to 250. The night before crowds destroyed dozens of buildings and set more than 30 fires in the city’s downtown.
“We cannot allow the cycle of systemic racism and injustice to continue,” said Evers, who is facing mounting pressure over his handling of the unrest. “We also cannot continue going down this path of damage and destruction.”