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Officials Hold Press Conference To Address Deadly Violence, Unrest In Kenosha. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 26, 2020 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

MAYOR JOHN ANTARAMIAN (D), KENOSHA, WISCONSIN: And that curfew is there to protect the public. We need to make sure people are off the streets so law enforcement can do their job.

I think sometime people forget, that they think, because you call for curfew, it's there so you can give tickets to everyone. It's not. It's there to protect the public. And that is so very important at this time.

Kenosha is a community that, in the long run, will recover. We will work together to resolve our issues. We'll work with the minority community to continue to move forward. And we will make this a better place to live.

But it will take time. It will take healing. It will require us to reach out to all parties of the community and actually have honest dialogue.

So, I'm here today basically to, number one, inform everyone that we are not planning on letting this violence continue.

Number two, we are going to work together to resolve the racial issues in our community and we are going to make that work.

The only other thing I'd like to add -- which I forgot to say earlier, and I apologize, a little off topic -- there's been talk about the support from Governor Evers. Governor Evers has been very supportive to the community. I think everyone needs to know that.

They also need to know there's a concept that the federal government is not participating in Kenosha. They are. The FBI is here. ATF is here. And the U.S. Marshals are here.

It's so important for everyone know this is has been an activity where everyone has been involved in trying to make things better.

I want to leave you with one last thought. And that is there's an adage I've always used in all of my elections and campaigns. And it may sound hokey, I suppose. "A community is only as strong as its weakest neighborhood. As a country, we are only as strong as the weakest city."

We need to make sure that we help create or stop this divide and this anger that is going on in this country. And that only begins with each one of us willing to honestly talk with each other.

So, thank you for listening to me.

And I will now turn it over to Sheriff Beth.

SHERIFF DAVID BETH (D), KENOSHA, WISCONSIN: Some of mine is going to mirror what the mayor said. And he reminded me that the night of the shooting, I did talk to Mrs. Blake. I talked to her for probably 10 minutes on the phone and got her information she wanted about her son and what hospital to go to see.

She was probably one of the calmest, nicest people I talked to that entire evening. And I haven't talked to her since but I agree she was a very nice person, calming person.

To start off with, we got called in on Sunday at 5:30 to assist the city in a shooting. Our job is to protect the scene. And it got a little hairy throughout as the night went on. Squad cars were damaged.

I've seen some video taken by people. I'm very proud of our staff, the Kenosha Police Department staff that protected the scene calmly, politely, and stood in the face of rocks being thrown.

One of the city captains got something that hit him in the back of the head and threw him to the ground right in front of me.

But everyone was very -- on our end, was very calm that night and maintained security and got out of there as well as we could.

The march came downtown. The focal point for each and every demonstration that really we've seen is the building that we're in right now, the safety building. I think that's because law enforcement, the city police department, the Kenosha Sheriff's Department is stationed here.

It is, to some people, it's -- to some people, we're the bad people. And to the majority of the community, we're people who go out and help save and protect.

The other part of it is the courthouse. The courthouse represents justice. And I know the people are looking for justice, whatever it is. There's justice where we're found guilty and where we're found innocent. So, I'm sure that will come out in time.

On Monday, the numbers grew. Our resources also grew. We put out an all-call throughout the states, to local sheriff's departments and police departments and they showed up in numbers, in the hundreds.

We put it out to -- we also put it out there to Monday -- we thought we put it out to the National Guard and we found we had our wires crossed. We didn't actually request the National Guard on Monday night. Or was it Sunday night? The first night because we had our wires crossed.

[14:35:07]

The second night, they did deliver people. Last night, they delivered more. And we're very thankful for the National Guard.

Like I said, we had sheriff's departments coming from all over the state of Wisconsin. They brought their personnel. They brought their equipment. They brought their armored cars. They brought things that we needed.

The state of Wisconsin and the federal government, the FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals, they brought technology. They brought equipment, too. And the resources in the information they have passed to us is a mess. We have got the DNR wardens that don't have riot gear who are out every day in the face of everything. State troopers were here.

The local agencies here in Kenosha and around us couldn't be better brothers and sisters that we could ask for to help protect Kenosha.

Tuesday, we put up a fence around this building. All of you were allowed to come in through the gate. The reason for the fence here, like I said earlier, this is a focal point for protesting and still was last night.

The protesters want to come here, say their peace, which is wonderful. No one in law enforcement has any issues with peaceful groups coming in here and protesting. We support that.

I know that about a month ago, the mayor and I went over to one and we kneeled with Kneel for Nine, the group of people there. We were there supporting.

The fence around these buildings, what it allows us to do, because this building holds inmates, and if somehow the structure got caught on fire, we can't move these people that quickly to get them to a safe spot. We have to protect the inmates.

And we put the fence up to help protect this campus. The first night there was probably $300,000 damage to this campus alone.

And what the fence does is allows us to take the resources we needed to protect it to move it to the field in the outside of the fence and do an even better job of working with the people in our community.

Last night, with the fence up, we were much more assertive in the way we handled things. Shortly after 8:00, the curfew went into effect.

At 8:00, we moved out on am armored car and basically said, you need leave, curfew's at 8:00. You're in violation of the curfew. And if you don't, you will be taken into custody.

Then some left. Several left. We watched on the screen. We watched several leaving. They followed orders.

And when some didn't come -- I saw it live -- I don't know if you saw it. They started pelting the officers over the fence with stones and bricks. And the armored car was pelted. There were Molotov cocktails thrown.

We gave them probably another 10 or 15 minutes, and then we did tear gas to help disperse the crowd.

That was a -- it's not something we wanted to do but with the damage and the -- everything on Monday night, it was something we had to do. We had to disperse the crowd and get them moving out.

The longer we let them go, the longer we let them build, the more dangerous the situation became.

Tonight, we're changing the curfew to 7:00.

We will gladly support all the peaceful protests that are really throughout Kenosha County. After 7:00, and after that, we asked everybody to go home.

Last night, the -- I'm very proud of the people of Kenosha.

Last night, when I went to move from this building out to the command post, I drove down the streets and there was no one on it.

The people of Kenosha let law enforcement and all our partners do our job. They let us do, truthfully, a much better job last night than we could do on Monday night.

And the people stayed at home. They moved their cars. They did everything we asked them to. And I want to thank the people of Kenosha for doing that.

Tonight, we're moving it to 7:00. And 7:00, the curfew will allow us to disperse whoever is gathered. Maybe no one. But disperse whoever is gathered in day light. So it will help us to see better. It will help the people to see better. They won't be dispersing in dark.

[14:40:05]

And we find after dark, we have many more issues with violence and things that go on.

Last night, during -- a lot the -- we had several hundred law enforcement, several hundred National Guard. And again, I watched on TV. I watched these hundreds of law enforcement go out there and calmly go out there and, first of all, try to get people to leave,.

And then they assisted -- many were taken into custody. And for some, it was truly a curfew violation. But we're going to be very assertive in taking these people. If you don't follow the curfew, we're going to do our best to take you into custody for that violation.

Wednesday, we have additional staffing coming from around the state. Unbelievable the amount of sheriffs and police departments that come and have offered to come, both with equipment and people to help protect Kenosha County.

As the mayor said, we have got the National Guard, FBI, U.S. Marshal, DNR, Wisconsin State Patrol, and agencies throughout the state helping to protect this city. Last night -- every day we get better. And Kenosha, we are not

accustomed to riots. We're not accustomed to it. We pulled resources. We pulled knowledge from federal and state agencies. And the cooperation between all of them have been incredible.

There's some misinformation that the state isn't helping or the federal government isn't helping. Everyone's helping. Everyone is helping.

Can all these different agencies, round up the numbers, we would have loved to have had on Monday night. They don't work like police agencies do. So, with a few-days-notice, they were able to get resources here.

What we have been finding -- and yesterday, did a couple interviews -- is social media. I don't do social media. I don't do Facebook. I think I'd be upset all the time if I did it.

One thing we found is that we do get information from those sources. But there's also a lot of misinformation coming from those sources.

Yesterday, as the day went on -- it started off in the morning, there was almost no social media about anything happening yesterday, almost none. By noon, it had grown. By early afternoon, it multiplied again.

And some of the things is all of you. And people of Kenosha get Facebook updates and social media updates from other people and it gets passed and passed and passed. And we were getting the same misinformation on Facebook that, again, hundreds of times. We get the same thing.

And they would actually even say, there's 30 vehicles at this location, and we'd send the squad car and there was no one there. Whoever did this put this out to scare the people of Kenosha. And it's working. It's working.

What I want to people of Kenosha to know though is that we are working hard. We're working very hard. And we're getting better at this. And we've got more resources coming in.

And we're not -- like the mayor said, too -- we're not going to put up with what we saw Monday night. We're not going to.

Does that mean we're going to stop it all? It depends on numbers that come. We're not going to be able to stop it. We're going to be assertive in helping to protect the city of Kenosha and Kenosha county. And our neighbors around the state, county are here to help, too.

We blocked off the interstate. We picked that up. Other larger cities did that and it seemed effective. When I talk to other agencies, it seemed that worked.

It's an inconvenience for our local people. I am so sorry. Sorry we did that. But there's a reason for it. It was to help protect you. Yesterday, I had a person call me and say, why don't you deputize

citizens who have guns to come out and patrol the city of Kenosha. And I'm like, oh, hell no.

[14:45:14]

And what happened last night -- and I think the chief is going to talk about it -- is probably the perfect reason why I wouldn't.

Once I deputize somebody, they fall under the constitution of the state of Wisconsin. They fall under the county of Kenosha.

They fall under my guidance. They have to follow my policies. They have to follow my supervisors.

They are a liability to me and the county and the state of Wisconsin.

I don't know this for sure. But the incident that happened last night, where two people lost their lives, I think, they were part of this group that wanted me to deputize them.

As part of the county of Kenosha, that would have been, in reality, two deputy sheriffs who killed two people. It would have been one deputy sheriff who killed two people. Sorry about that. And the liability that goes with that, would have been immense.

So, that's one of the things brought up to me and I said there's no way. There's no way I would deputize people.

One of the things we had problems with last night is a lot of protesters come for the show. I mean, there's good protesters who come and pray and kneel and all that stuff and chant. I got no issue with that. I was doing it several weeks ago. I'm good with that.

But there's some -- and we've got several -- that come here from outside Kenosha. They come from Illinois. They come from north of us. However, we've heard some people may have been arrested from Green Bay, Milwaukee.

They're coming here. They have no desire to protest.

I go back to social media. One of the invitations looked like a party invitation. Something you would get from your brother to see your niece's graduation or her birthday.

Come, wear your black outfits, black mask. Bring your backpacks filled with Molotov cocktails, rocks and whatever else they may have in the backpacks. So, that was the invitation that went out.

And I think there's something going on tonight. I'm not exactly sure what it was.

But I go back to, I think some people are thinking I should deputize and we should have people out here with guns under my authority. What a scary, scary thought that would be in my world.

And part of the problem with this group is they create confrontation. So, people walking around with guns.

If I walk around in uniform with a gun, all of you probably wouldn't be too intimidated by it because you're used to officers having guns.

But if I put out my wife with an A.R.-15 or my brother with a shotgun or whatever it would be walking through the streets, you would wonder what the heck was going on. That doesn't help us.

We are set up. We're going to do the curfew until Sunday. It can change. This is all fluid. We're going to do the 7:00 p.m. curfew until Sunday. And it might continue afterwards. It might get finished before.

At this point, it's the interstate and east, a 7:00 p.m. curfew. For those that this puts a hardship on, I'm sorry. I really, really am. But it's something we have to do.

I'm going to turn it over to General Knapp now and let him explain from the National Guard.

MAJ. GEN. PAUL KNAPP, ADJUTANT GENERAL, WISCONSIN NATIONAL GUARD: Thank you.

Thank you, Sheriff.

Hello. I'm Major General Paul Knapp. I'm the adjutant general for the state of Wisconsin, in charge of emergency management for the state.

Number one, I want to express my condolences to the families of those involved in the tragic events of Kenosha.

Next I want to talk about what the Wisconsin National Guard and our role in supporting local authorities in Kenosha.

On August 24th, Governor Evers called the Wisconsin National Guard to active duty to serve in a supporting role and assist local law enforcement in preserving public safety. And the ability of individuals to exercise their First Amendment rights to peacefully demonstrate.

We are fully engaged to serve and protect citizens of Wisconsin on this very important mission.

[14:50:00]

For the last two nights, we sent soldiers and airmen to support local law enforcement in the city of Kenosha in protecting lives and property.

We are working diligently to provide additional assistance and we're committed to meeting all the requests that we received from civil authorities.

The Wisconsin National Guard responds to formal requests from county emergency managers. And these requests are submitted to the State Emergency Operation Center. And then, with the approval of the governor, National Guard resources can be committed to support civil authorities.

The Wisconsin National Guard does not self-deploy. And always serves in a supporting role. We don't choose on our own where and what capacity to engage.

However, these are fluid situations. And we remain responsive to requests with the governor's approval.

When arriving on scene, the National Guard plays a supporting role to local law enforcement who remain in charge of the mission.

Guard personnel will remain on mission in Kenosha for as long as civil authorities require our support.

For operational security purposes, the Wisconsin National Guard will not discuss troop numbers as it relates to this mission.

However, we are mobilizing additional forces in accordance with requests submitted by civil authorities from and through appropriate channels.

We are also working together by emergency management assistance compact, otherwise known as EMAC requests, to bring in additional resources from surrounding states to augment the military police forces as needed.

The events in Kenosha are tragic. And our thoughts and prayers go out to all those involved.

The members of the Wisconsin National Guard are proud to serve the citizens of this great state and stand ready to continue to support assistance to local authorities in times of crisis.

The bottom line is we're your neighbors. You're your fellow -- we're your fellow residents and citizens of Wisconsin. We care about what happens here and throughout the state.

And we are here to support the local authorities and bringing this to a peaceful conclusion.

Thank you.

BETH: I'd like to introduce the Kenosha Police Department chief, Dan Miskinis.

DANIEL MISKINIS, CHIEF, KENOSHA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Good afternoon.

You'll notice there's a theme here in that there's concern for the public, for those that have been injured by the Kenosha Police Department, those injured by civilians, and the injuries inflicted upon the community itself by arsonists, Molotov cocktails, looting, all of the violence that goes on.

I want to be very clear with that. Everybody that stands before you is very committed to bringing a peaceful resolution to the issue at hand. We understand there are underlying issues that are driving this. We're

not going to fix them overnight. But the commitment is here from the leaders here to do something about it.

With that, there's a clear understanding that Kenosha is full of good people. This is not a community of violent people. The residents are sad, scared, confused but not violent.

Peaceful protests are welcome. They're seen as a way and always a way for the American public to speak their mind. We support that. I support that as an individual.

We cannot support violence. When the line crosses from stating one's opinions to taking violent actions and hurting people, damaging property, and generally unruly behavior, that must stop.

Not only is it bad for the community, it detracts for the message. The underlying message here is racial tension and police violence.

Whether or not that is a contributing factor, whether it is here in Kenosha and across the nation, those are issues that need to be worked on and addressed.

When things become violent, that message is lost. It becomes all about violence. And that's clearly not what Kenosha is about.

The people here are good people. And we're here to protect them. We've called in necessary resources to do that. We will continue to do that to stand strong to protect all people here in Kenosha.

So by now, everybody is aware that the Kenosha Police Department, one of our officers shot an individual here in the city of Kenosha, which is the, for lack of a better term, the event that triggered the unrest.

Thankfully, Mr. Blake is alive and recovering from that incident.

I don't have a lot of great details about the incident because I wasn't there. The state of Wisconsin has a statute and a procedure that removes the law enforcement agency involved in the use of force from the investigation.

[14:55:03]

So you heard Sheriff Beth speak about how they came in, in a supporting role. They controlled the scene to control evidence, to protect the scene to make sure that justice would be served in the end. No matter what that evidence showed that was his job.

The Kenosha Police Department steps back from that and we become the people investigated rather than those doing the investigation. That is a recent change statutorily here in Wisconsin and one that I support. And it provides greater transparency and oversight.

Unfortunately, what it also brings is what you see before you today, a chief who doesn't have details about the incident. The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal

Investigation, DCI, is the investigating agency here. They are the ones collecting evidence, interviewing all those involved, whether it is the officer, Mr. Blake, witnesses, any host of things.

They are the ones doing the investigation to give it the outside view, that outside demand for justice. So I support that. And we will continue to participate in that with cooperation and they will continue doing what they do.

I don't have details to share because of the way the system works. The support process here with DCI for us is very limited. The sheriff's department controls the scene.

I, as the chief, have policies. We have procedures to cooperate. And that is what we do.

We're not hiding behind what has been referred to by some across this nation over the years as a blue line of silence. It doesn't exist. We don't want bad cops. There aren't cops here who want to go out and hurt people. All right?

So I understand that there's a difference of view and may be some underlying political issues that, as I said before, are not going to be solved -- I asked for everybody in this room, everybody listening, and the citizens here affected, to allow for time for that process to play out.

The decisions in the case will be made based on evidence collected by an outside agency, presented to someone else to make that decision.

The Kenosha Police Department will not make a ruling one way or the other in that. That process is in place. I believe it's fair. I believe it is a good thing for not only the citizens of Kenosha but those across this nation.

Since the incident, there have been peaceful protests and prayer vigils. There are a lot of good people out there and a lot of good people who want to draw attention to underlying issues, to draw attention to the need for change, and to draw attention to the need for the potential of police reform if necessary.

I bring that last statement into effect in that I think most people I've talked to believe there may be the need for reform but they're not racing to judgment.

They will bring up ideas and much of it is what we've talked about or heard from citizens are in place. They do exist. There's just perhaps not enough communication. And today's meeting is somewhat about that.

So you have my commitment that we will try to do our best to share more information. It is difficult when we are removed from the process to do that.

I ask today, as we move forward, today's theme is about progress toward restoring healing and having the community come out of this stronger.

Over the last few days, Kenosha has also experienced, unfortunately, looting, arson, Molotov cocktails, violence, persons injured.

In addition, last night, in a situation that began peaceful, and turned somewhat unruly -- and the sheriff spoke about things thrown, hammers, bricks, violence toward law enforcement, and toward the National Guard assisting and controlling the scene here and protecting those who were rightfully speaking their minds.

Persons out after the curfew became engaged in some type of disturbance and persons were shot. Everybody involved was out after the curfew.

I'm not going to make a great deal of it. But the point is the curfew is in place to protect.

Had individuals not been out in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened.

So the last night, a 17-year-old individual, from Antioch, Illinois, was involved in the use of firearms to resolve whatever conflict was in place. The result of it was two people are dead.

[15:00:01]

This is not a police action. This is 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.