The city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, faces more than $11 million in damage from the riots that took place in August following the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Kenosha Fire Chief Charles Leipzig told the Police and Fire Commission on Tuesday that the damage from the week after Blake’s arrest accrued more fire damage than what the city receives in a typical three-year span.
“It’s been a very difficult past month,” Leipzig said, according to a report from the Kenosha News. “We have a record fire loss and some injuries as a result of the current events. … You’re looking at $11 million in fire loss. To put into context, that’s three years of fire loss for us in the span of about a week. And we also sent some people to the hospital. It has not been a very pleasant month.”
Protests devolved into riots following the police shooting of Blake, a 29-year-old black man who was shot by a law enforcement officer several times at close range after he tried to enter his car during an arrest. Blake was left paralyzed by the shooting.
The riots in Kenosha started with several buildings and cars being lit on fire and lasted several days. The riots ended after deadly shootings and the National Guard was sent into the city to reestablish order. A 17-year-old teenager from Illinois, Kyle Rittenhouse, has been charged with murder after two protesters were shot and killed and another was injured. His lawyers argue that he was acting in self-defense.
Leipzig said the members of his department “worked long hours” to address the damage during the riots. He urged the public to include the full context of the riots when judging city officials for how they managed the situation.
“The decisions that are made on a day-to-day basis will always be judged at times without the complete context of the incident involved,” he said. “I would ask this board and the citizens of Kenosha to take all the information and make judgment based on facts from the entirety of the event.”
Kenosha is one of several cities to experience millions of dollars in damage from riots that took place following protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, requested $500 million from the federal government to help rebuild the city after the George Floyd riots. President Trump denied his request.
