(Reuters) – Three people were shot, one of them fatally, as gunfire broke out on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the third straight night of unrest sparked by the police shooting of a Black man, the New York Times reported, citing law enforcement.
Social media video posted on Wednesday showed a gun battle among civilians, with several people rushing a man with a long gun who apparently had been knocked to the ground. The video shows him firing at the people rushing towards him, one of whom falls to the ground. Several other shots are heard in the background.
Another social media video of the aftermath shows a man with a severe arm wound sitting on the ground who is tended to by a man with a long gun as police approach.
Kenosha has been rocked by protests since Sunday, when police shot Jacob Blake in the back as he walked away from two officers and opened his car door, according to a bystander video that went viral. Three of his young sons were in the car, witnesses said.
Blake, 29, was left paralyzed and “fighting for his life,” his family and lawyers said on Tuesday, hours before the latest round of civil unrest in the lakefront town.
Police and protesters skirmished on Tuesday night and early on Wednesday. Officers in riot gear fired rubber bullets, tear gas and flash-bang rounds to push back demonstrators who defied a dawn-to-dusk curfew and gathered outside a courthouse and adjacent park in central Kenosha.
There were no apparent fires as there had been the previous two nights, destroying several businesses.
The night appeared to have turned calm, but then the gunfire erupted around midnight.
Three people were shot and one died, the Times reported, citing an interview with Sheriff David Beth.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Nick Macfie)
