The son of Herschel Walker called Jacob Blake a “crazy, violent criminal” as the Heisman Trophy winner appeared at the Republican National Convention to support Donald Trump.
In a Twitter video posted on Monday, Christian Walker said the shooting of Mr Blake in Wisconsin was “another incident of a crazy violent criminal refusing to follow directions from police officers and getting consequence for it”.
Mr Blake, 29, was shot in the back seven times and paralyzed on Sunday after he was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with police before walking to his vehicle. His lawyer has confirmed he was not carrying a gun.
“Jacob Blake, oh yeah he was a felon sexual assaulter, he was a domestic abuser and had given cops trouble in the past. There was a warrant out for his arrest,” Mr Walker said in the video.
“Show us the body cam footage, you’re not pulling another George Floyd with us, he should have followed directions and we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
While an arrest warrant was issued for Mr Blake on 6 July for charges of third-degree assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection to an alleged domestic abuse incident, it is unclear if officers were aware of the warrant when responding to a complaint of “family trouble“.
It came on the eve of the Republican National Convention in which the former NFL running back spoke in support of the president and their 37-year friendship.
Following the speech, the racist slur “Uncle Tom” trended as Twitter users attacked Mr Walker for appearing at the RNC, prompting his son to defend his father as “the best speaker of the night”.
“He [Mr Trump]] shows how much he cares about social justice in the Black community through his actions, and his actions speak louder than stickers and slogans on a jersey,” said Mr Walker said during the convention.
The younger Walker referenced those slogans in his Twitter video, calling Black Live Matter activists terrorists that destroy the lives of black people by destroying their communities.
“Oh, but since he’s black BLM terrorists think they get an excuse to go burn and loot a city to the floor,” Mr Walker said. “BLM, change your name to Criminal Lives Matter, because all you really do is destroy black lives and black communities when you go burning cities to the ground in the name of violent criminals.”
Following the shooting, protests erupted in Kenosha for three consecutive nights. Two people were shot dead and one injured on Tuesday, according to Kenosha Police Department via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
There has been a marked difference in the response to Mr Blake’s shooting between the two political parties. As of Wednesday, President Trump had not expressed remorse over the shooting of Mr Blake and had only tweeted that the national guard should be sent in while Joe Biden said the officers involved must be held accountable.
*story by The Independent