KENOSHA — After a third night of outrage over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, some neighbors in Kenosha woke up and got to work cleaning up the mess left behind by overnight riots.
At a car lot near 63rd Street and Sheridan Road, vehicles were smashed, shot at, burned, and vandalized. At the county courthouse downtown, there was fresh graffiti and more trash and destruction at Civic Center Park, which has been the epicenter for protests since Sunday night.
Meghan Scheer grabbed a bucket full of cleaning supplies when she woke up Wednesday and headed to the car lot at 63rd and Sheridan, prepared to make her way through the city and help wherever she could.
"I just figured I'd come out this morning and this is the closest area," she said. Scheer was speechless after surveying the damage. She said she was embarrassed to see Kenosha in the national spotlight for these reasons.
"This isn't who we are," said Scheer.
About a mile away, a mix of volunteers and city crews cleaned up Civic Center Park.
"We don't want to see our city destroyed," said Trent Barnhart. He stopped by on his way to work at Harborside Academy and said while he supports peaceful protesting and a need for systemic change, he was devastated to see the destruction.
"I feel like our citizens of Kenosha are the ones that are coming out during the day doing the peaceful protests. That stuff is important to us. Cleaning up the community is important to us as well because there's a lot of pride in our community," said Barnhart.
Kenosha Parks Superintendent Jeff Warnock said he appreciates the help from the volunteers.
"To have them come out and help means quite a bit to us," said Warnock.
He and his crew are exhausted and admitted frustration as they work to stay ahead of the nightly destruction.
"It's a mess, were anticipating this again," said Warnock on Wednesday morning.
The Kenosha County Board of Supervisors has sent a letter to Governor Tony Evers asking for support protecting infrastructure. They're asking Governor Evers to request 1,500 more members of the national guard from President Trump to help prevent further destruction as unrest continues.
