jacob blake kenosha riot knife
Officials in Wisconsin announced that Jacob Blake, the man shot by police in Kenosha, admitted to being in possession of a knife.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation provided further details about the Sunday shooting in a Wednesday news release and identified the officer allegedly involved in the shooting as Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the police force.

"During the investigation following the initial incident, Mr. Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession. DCI agents recovered a knife from the driver's side floorboard of Mr. Blake's vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons," the Wisconsin Department of Justice said.

The incident occurred after Kenosha officers were responding to a domestic disturbance call. Officials said that police were attempting to arrest Blake at the time of the shooting, but other details about the events leading up to the gunfire are still unclear.

"Law enforcement deployed a taser to attempt to stop Mr. Blake, however the Taser was not successful in stopping Mr. Blake. Mr. Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver's side door, and leaned forward. While holding onto Mr. Blake's shirt, Officer Rusten Sheskey fired his service weapon 7 times. Officer Sheskey fired the weapon into Mr. Blake's back," officials said.

"No other officer fired their weapon. Kenosha Police Department does not have body cameras, therefore the officers were not wearing body cameras," the statement added.

The incident has sparked riots in the city of about 100,000 people. Video of the shooting quickly went viral, leading to protests that later became violent. A teenager is in custody after a deadly shooting during the riots on Tuesday night.

Blake remains hospitalized as of Wednesday's announcement.
Zachary Halaschak is a breaking news reporter at the Washington Examiner. Before moving to Washington, he worked in Alaska covering politics, government, and crime for the Ketchikan Daily News. He graduated from the University of Richmond in 2017 and is originally from Marco Island, Fla.