Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden touched down in Wisconsin on Thursday and met with the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by police on Aug. 23 and left partially paralyzed.
Mr. Biden and his wife Jill met at the Milwaukee airport with Mr. Blake’s father Jacob Blake Sr., his sisters Ziethra Blake and Letetra Widman, and his brother Myron Jackson.
Julia Jackson, Mr. Blake’s mother, participated in the meeting via phone.
Mr. Blake’s shooting has prompted a wave of protests and rioting in Kenosha. Two people were killed in the ensuing mayhem.
Mr. Biden said on Wednesday that the officer who shot Mr. Blake should be charged, following similar comments last week from Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris.
The former vice president and Ms. Harris had already spoken to members of Mr. Blake’s family.
At the time of the shooting, there had been a warrant for Mr. Blake’s arrest after he was charged with sexual assault in July. The warrant was later vacated, according to an attorney for Mr. Blake.
Police had been called for a domestic disturbance report on Aug. 23 and officers deployed a taser to subdue Mr. Blake after trying to arrest him, according to state authorities. Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Mr. Blake after he walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side door and “leaned forward,” according to the state Department of Justice.
An attorney for the Kenosha Professional Police Association said responding officers told Mr. Blake multiple times to drop a knife he was holding and that he refused.
Raysean White, who shot the video of the shooting, said he heard police officers shout “Drop the knife!” before the gunfire erupted but that he didn’t see a knife in Mr. Blake’s hands.
Mr. Blake later told investigators that he had a knife in his possession.
The state Department of Justice said agents later recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of the car and found no additional weapons.
Mr. Biden has spent much of the summer cloistered in Delaware, saying he didn’t want to get back out for more in-person events if it wasn’t safe to do so during the coronavirus pandemic.
President Trump and Republicans have ridiculed Mr. Biden’s “basement strategy.”
They say Mr. Biden is traveling to Wisconsin this week and getting back out on the trail more only after sagging poll numbers awoke the former vice president from his summertime slumber.
Mr. Trump traveled to Kenosha on Tuesday to survey some of the damage.
The president said he declined to meet with Mr. Blake’s family because they wanted lawyers present.
Members of Mr. Blake’s legal team were at the meeting with the Bidens on Thursday.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.
