Julia Jackson, the mother of Wisconsin man Jacob Blake, who was shot several times by police on Sunday, says she has the “utmost” respect for president Donald Trump as she apologised for missing his call.
“And then also, for president Trump, I’m sorry I missed your call!,” Ms Jackson told CNN in a press conference on Tuesday. “Because, had I not missed your call maybe the comments you had made would have been different. I’m not mad at you at all. I have the utmost respect for you as the leader of our country.”
It is unclear what comments Ms Jackson was referring to. The president has yet to comment on the shooting of Mr Blake, which took place in front of his three young children.
However, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr on Monday drew attention to Mr Blake’s prior criminal convictions when he retweeted a post by a right-wing commentator.
During Tuesday’s press conference – the first Ms Jackson and her husband Jacob Blake Sr have given since white officers shot their black son several times – repeated their calls for calm after another night of unrest in Kenosha.
The pair said they had been praying for police officers and denounced the violent scenes that had been taking place across the city since Sunday’s shooting. “Please, don’t burn up property and cause havoc, and tear your homes down, in my son’s name”, Ms Jackson told reporters.
An emotional Blake Sr said his son was shot like “he didn’t matter”. “They shot my son seven times, seven times like he didn’t matter,” he said. “But my son matters. He’s a human being and he matters.”...