By Staff, Agencies

Officials in Wisconsin named the police officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times, and claimed the victim told police he had a knife in his car.

A day after lawyers for the family of the 29-year-old father of three revealed doctors said he may never walk again, officials in Kenosha said the police officer who shot Blake was Rusten Sheskey, who had seven years' experience on the force.

Officials claimed that police were called on Sunday night to a residence after a woman caller said her boyfriend was present and that he should not have been on the premises. They said the young man was shot by Sheskey as the officer held onto his shirt, and that no other officer was involved in the shooting.

Investigators also claimed Blake told them he had a knife on the floor of his vehicle and that officers had tried to use a Taser on him but that it failed to stop him.

“The taser was not successful in stopping him,” said Wisconsin attorney general Josh Kaul at a press conference on Wednesday. “Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side to work and leaned forward.

“While holding on to Blake’s shirt. Officer Sheshkey fired his service weapon seven times. Officer Sheshkey fired the weapon into Blake’s back.”

Kaul said that “following the initial incident”, Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession, and that officers recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.

It was not immediately clear when Blake allegedly told officers he had a weapon. There was no immediate response from Blake’s family to the claims made by prosecutors.

The latest details came as the city of Kenosha, located 40 south of Milwaukee, reeled after three nights of violence and damage, that followed peaceful protests.

Donald Trump has dispatched hundreds of federal agents to the city, and the governor has deployed the state national guard, as violence failed to abate, despite the imposition of a curfew.