Some business owners in Kenosha went to work Tuesday morning and found their businesses burned to the ground or heavily damaged. It came after a second night of unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Smoke was still billowing from apparently arson-damaged businesses near 60th Street and 11th Avenue, more than 12 hours after the unrest began.
“They burned buildings. They looted. They went into camera shops. They went into these small mom and pop stores that really have been there, some of them, for years,” Kenosha Sheriff David Beth told WTMJ’s Wisconsin’s Morning News Tuesday morning. “They went around this area with gas cans. Those were some of the complaints we heard. There (were) people with cans just lighting things on fire.”
“This block looks like a war zone now,” Scott, the owner of B&L Office Furniture, told TMJ4 News’ Ryan Jenkins. His store was burned down, and a small fire was still burning inside it.
“You’re looking at mass destruction. You’re looking at evil-ness, somebody who just doesn’t care, someone who has no regard for other people’s hard work, 40 years of a family business gone, people without jobs.”
Scott’s mother came to the scene of the fire and cried in her son’s arms, according to Jenkins.
“A lot of sweat and tears into this. It’s all gone,” Scott said.
The probation and parole building nearby was also burned to “a pile of rubble.” Windows were smashed out of other nearby businesses.
Numerous vehicles at a used car shop were burned out or had windows and lights damaged, and the front door windows were blasted through or severely cracked.
Watch video: WARNING: Graphic language
Aftermath of Kenosha unrest’s second nightReporter Ryan Jenkins is getting a look at the damage leftover in Kenosha from a second straight night of unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. DETAILS: https://on.tmj4.com/32ho7Ag
Posted by TMJ4 News on Tuesday, August 25, 2020