More than half of 252 people arrested since Jacob Blake shooting are from outside Kenosha County

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Police reported Thursday, more than 250 people have been arrested since the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha with more than half from outside the county that the southeastern Wisconsin city.

Kenosha police updated arrest figures Thursday, saying of the 252 people arrested, 132 did not live in Kenosha County. Rittenhouse came from his home in Antioch, Illinois, about 15 miles from Kenosha, to join others who walked the streets with rifles saying they were there to protect businesses from damage.

Four people arrested filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday, alleging that police were not arresting pro-police demonstrators like Rittenhouse who were breaking a curfew, while targeting others. The city’s attorney called the lawsuit baseless and said it should be dismissed.

The police said damage to city property was about $2 million and damage to county property was about $385,000. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was investigating more than 23 fires.

Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer on Aug. 23, sparking three nights of unrest that resulted in roughly two dozen fires and damage to numerous downtown businesses. Two nights after the shooting, prosecutors say 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two demonstrators and wounded a third. His attorney claims it was self-defense.

The city on Wednesday ended a curfew that had been in place since Aug. 24, a sign of calming tensions in the city of about 100,000 midway between Milwaukee and Chicago. President Donald Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday to thank law enforcement for their efforts and his Democratic rival Joe Biden was in Wisconsin on Thursday and met with members of Blake’s family and Kenosha community leaders.

Former Vice President Joe Biden used an unfortunate choice of words Thursday while visiting Kenosha, Wis. in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Biden's speech aimed at addressing racial unrest veered into talking about inequities in taxes at one point. He stopped himself from laying out his tax policy in detail, saying if he goes on any longer they'll shoot me.

Biden said, he is seeking common ground that Trump is incapable of reaching with law and order rhetoric and repeated refusals to acknowledge racism in America. I can’t say if tomorrow God made me president, I can’t guarantee you everything gets solved in four years. But it would be a whole better, we get a whole lot further down the road if Trump isn’t re-elected. There’s certain things worth losing over and this is something worth losing over if you have to but we’re not going to lose.