Kenosha police chief blames shooting victims for breaking curfew

Police chief says killings were not police actions

The police chief in Kenosha, Wisconsin appeared to blame protesters breaking curfew for a shooting that left two people dead and one wounded by a 17-year-old right wing gunman.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskins said the shooting may not have happened if protesters and the gunman had obeyed the city's 8pm curfew.

"Everybody involved was out after the curfew," Mr Miskins said. "I'm not gonna make a great deal of it but the point is - the curfew's in place to protect. Had persons not been out involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened."

The situation Mr MIskins is referring to is a shooting in which 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse travelled across state lines with an AR-15 to involve himself in the protests sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was charged with murder for a single shooting which left one protester dead. Two other shootings - one that killed another protester and one that wounded another, have been attributed to Rittenhouse by witnesses at the scene, though charges have not been brought against Rittenhouse for those attacks.

Mr Miskins insisted that the police were not responsible for the deaths of the two protesters in Kenosha.

"This is not a police action. This not the action, I believe, of those who set out to do protests. It is the persons who were involved after the legal time, involved in illegal activity, that brought violence to this community," Mr Miskins said.

Mr Miskins' words appear to share a blanket blame on both Rittenhouse and protesters who violated curfew for Rittenhouse's decision to shoot people.

The protests began after police shot Mr Blake seven times in the back as he was trying to enter his vehicle. Police were responding to a domestic disturbance call when they encountered Mr Blake. Witnesses claim Mr Blake was trying to break up a fight. Video shows police having a confrontation with Mr Blake and following him with guns drawn as he was walking away from the scene. When Mr Blake tried to enter his SUV, an officer shot him several times in the back. Mr Blake's children were in the SUV at the time of the shooting.

Mr Blake survived the shooting. His family said he will be at least temporarily paralysed from the waist down as a result of the shooting.

Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson appeared to defend Rittenhouse on his Fox News show on Wednesday night, blaming the city's inaction in suppressing the protests for Rittenhouse's actions.

"How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?" Mr Carlson asked.

Rittenhouse is a former police cadet and his social media was filled with "blue lives matter" and "back the blue" sentiments. "Back the Blue" is a call for regular citizens to defend the police, despite police generally having far more protective equipment and deadly arms than protesters at demonstrations.

Rittenhouse attempted to join the Marine Corps in January but was disqualified from service, according to the Washington Post. A spokesperson for the Marine Corps declined to specify why he was disqualified, citing the service's privacy protocols.