The father of the 29-year-old man shot in the back by Kenosha police Sunday, told the Chicago Sun-Times that his son, Jacob Blake, was shot eight times and is now paralyzed from the waist down, though doctors do not yet know if that paralysis is permanent.
The father, also named Jacob Blake, was driving from his home in Charleston, North Carolina, on Tuesday to Milwaukee to be with his son.
The elder Blake told the newspaper that he spoke with his son on the morning that he was shot, and that the younger Blake was planning to celebrate his own son’s eighth birthday on Sunday. The father learned late Sunday afternoon that his son had been shot, and had “eight holes” in his body. He saw the now-viral video just minutes later.
“I want to put my hand on my son’s cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I’ll be OK,” Blake told the newspaper. “I’ll kiss him with my mask. The first thing I want to do is touch my son.”
