Federal civil-rights investigation into shooting of Jacob Blake ongoing

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A federal civil-rights investigation into the shooting of Jacob Blake is ongoing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Michael Graveley, the Kenosha County District Attorney, announced on Tuesday that he’s not filing criminal charges against the white police officer who shot Blake, who is Black, in the back last August. Graveley concluded that he couldn’t disprove the self-defense argument made by Officer Rusten Sheskey because Sheskey said he had feared Blake was going to stab him with a knife.

A statement from the Eastern District late Tuesday said the FBI, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, is continuing its federal civil-rights investigation into the shooting. Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division are overseeing the inquiry and will make an independent charging decision.

The statement said federal authorities are committed to investigating the shooting as “thoroughly and efficiently as possible.”

The shooting prompted protests both in Kenosha and throughout the country calling for justice for Blake and fair policing policies. Federal investigations into arson, rioting and other violent crimes that occurred in Kenosha following the shooting are also ongoing.

Officials arrested more than 250 people during the protests, including 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to various felony charges on Tuesday. He’s accused of fatally shooting two men and wounding another. Rittenhouse said he was in Kenosha with an assault rifle to protect businesses.