Biden calls for police accountability following shooting of Jacob Blake

joe biden
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday called for "an immediate, full and transparent investigation" into the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who was shot by police officers on Sunday.

Blake is in serious condition at a Milwaukee hospital. Cellphone video captured by a witness shows two officers with their guns drawn following Blake as he walks to an SUV, and when he opens the driver's side door, shots are fired, Kenosha News reports. Hundreds of protesters gathered on Sunday night to condemn the shooting and the Kenosha Police Department. Video showed police spraying tear gas at the protesters, and soon after Kenosha County declared an emergency curfew.

"This morning, the nation wakes up yet again with grief and outrage that yet another Black American is a victim of excessive force," Biden said in a statement. "The officers must be held accountable."

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"Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others," the statement continues. "We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us."

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