Two dead as gunfire erupts at Wisconsin protests over shooting of Black man

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP

A third night of street protests over the police shooting of a Black man erupted into gun violence in Wisconsin, killing two people and wounding one, police said.

 Social media videos showed chaotic scenes of people running and screaming amid a volley of gunfire and others tending to gunshot wounds. The bloodshed followed a night of skirmishes that had appeared to turn calm, settling down after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who defied a curfew.

The shooting that broke out shortly before midnight killed two people and wounded a third who was expected to survive, the Kenosha Police Department said in a statement.

Kenosha has been rocked by protests since Sunday, when police shot Jacob Blake in the back at close range.

After struggling with police, Blake broke free and walked away from them and around his car to the driver's side, where he was shot after opening the door, according to a bystander video that went viral. Three of his young sons were in the car, witnesses said.

Blake, 29, was hit by four of the seven shots fired and left paralyzed and "fighting for his life," his family and lawyers said on Tuesday, hours before the latest round of civil unrest broke out in the lakefront town between Milwaukee and Chicago.

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