A staff writer at The Washington Post is spinning their own narrative about the shootings that took place in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tuesday night, downplaying the role of rioters in the incident.
On Twitter and in her article written with fellow Post writers Mark Guarino and Mark Berman, Jaclyn Peiser portrayed the shootings as one white man with a gun firing randomly into a crowd of protesters. The shootings resulted in the deaths of two people along with serious wounds to a third person, The Daily Wire reported.
Here’s how the Post described the shooting:
Shots were fired around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, police said. After the first shots, a young White man carrying a rifle began running north on Sheridan Road, away from a crowd of protesters. Video shows the armed man fall to the ground and then fire multiple rounds into the crowd. Two more people fell to the ground, one shot in the arm and the other in the chest, the Journal Sentinel reported. Another graphic video shows a man with blood running down the back of his neck and bystanders shouting that he had been shot in the head.
A Post video journalist named in the article, Whitney Leaming, also claimed that after the man with the rifle ran past, he “tripped and fell, then rolled into a sitting position, raised his gun and opened fire at his pursuers.”
Video from the evening, including one linked by the Post itself, tells a different story.
The man with the rifle seen in the video wearing a green shirt and firing at protesters was previously at a local business (the Post said they were “protecting a gas station,”) that was being attacked by rioters. Rioters previously burned down a car dealership nearby. Someone is shot and another person goes to help, with the armed man hovering around the scene a few seconds. Another man approaches and the armed man runs.
A crowd then starts chasing the man with the rifle, and he falls down. At this point, he doesn’t merely shoot into the crowd of pursuers. He is on the ground when one man jumps on him, kicking him. Another person tries to take his gun, and a third person approaches him, turns back, and then moves aggressively toward the man on the ground. This final pursuer is shot in the arm and, in footage taken immediately after, can be seen holding a pistol, which he says is “loaded.”
The Washington Post does not mention the actions of the men pursuing the man with the rifle. Peiser also refers to those rioting, destroying businesses, and chasing fellow citizens as “protesters,” while claiming an “armed militia” was patrolling the city, which is currently being burned by rioters.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the night of shootings followed Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) reportedly refusing additional National Guard help from the Trump administration.
“I got a call today from [Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis.,] that represents that district, from Senator Johnson as well, really just pleading for help, said that the local sheriff and mayor and police chief need some additional assistance,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said. “I got on the phone right away, and called the governor, and offered assistance in the form of additional National Guard help.”
The man seen in the videos with a rifle has been charged with first-degree murder, although he has not been apprehended.