KENOSHA, Wisc., (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Two days after Jacob Blake was shot by Kenosha police, neighbors close to Blake are searching for answers and seeking justice.
“This was horrible; it was just sad. I’m just sick over it,” says Stella London, who lives across the street from Blake. “I been living here 46 years and I've never seen anything that happened like this.”
“He was just respectful to me, he would always come by and say hi; sometimes he would have his little boys with him,” Granny says.
Sunday, she was on her porch as per usual when she heard a Kenosha police officer shoot Blake in the back seven times and the cries from others that followed.
“I heard the commotion, and I was standing there and I heard the shots,” says Granny. “I heard my neighbor across the street and she was just crying and yelling, 'They shot. They shot him in the back.”
“He was a good person, good father from what I know and a good neighbor,” another neighbor, who wants to be identified as Alex, tells Spectrum News 1.
Since that day, Alex, who lives just feet away from Blake's apartment has been torn up with emotion and questioning the actions of Kenosha police.
Alex says she and Blake often watch each other’s kids. Members of this community say they’re bracing for a long road of healing ahead. As Blake remains in the hospital and faces the possibility of never walking again, Alex is choosing not to protest, but to hope instead.
Granny is clinging to her faith with a message for her longtime neighbor.
“We [are] praying for you, Jacob,” says Granny. “Everyone is praying for you in this neighborhood. We care and we love you.”