Crime & Safety
Jacob Blake's Uncle Charged With Gun Crimes After Evanston Arrest
Justin Blake, uncle of the man shot and paralyzed by a Kenosha police officer last year, was pulled over Saturday after a demonstration.
EVANSTON, IL — The uncle of the man whose shooting by police last year triggered days of unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been charged with gun crimes and traffic offenses following a traffic stop Saturday in Evanston.
Justin Blake, 52, of Chicago, was pulled over shortly after 3 p.m. when an officer in an unmarked car clocked him going 46 mph in a 30 mph zone headed south on Sheridan Road, according to a police report.
Police said Blake's license had been suspended since Oct. 16 and that a warrant for his arrest had been issued in September 2019 in connection with his failure to appear in court to face charges of driving with a suspended license in southwest suburban Worth.
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A search of Blake's car turned up a backpack containing a loaded IWI Baby Desert Eagle .40 caliber pistol, an additional magazine with four more rounds and various pieces of Blake's property, according to police.
Officers also reported finding a three-quarters empty bottle of gin in the passenger side floorboard.
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According to police, Blake does not have a firearm owners identification card or concealed carry permit to allow him to legally drive around with a loaded handgun.
Police said Blake initially agreed to waive his constitutional right against self-incrimination, but when he was asked if the backpack was his, he decided to talk to an attorney instead.
Prosecutors approved a felony charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Blake was also charged with misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of a firearm without a FOID and unlawful possession of ammunition without a FOID.
Blake was issued citations for speeding, an expired vehicle registration, driving with a suspended license, no proof of insurance and illegal transportation of an open container of alcohol by a driver, according to police reports.
Blake's arrest came the same day as he participated in an Evanston march in memory of Ryan Bost, a former Evanston Township High School basketball star and relative of the Blake family.
Bost was fatally shot Nov. 9, 2020, in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. More than a year later, no one has been charged in connection with his killing.
On Sunday, Blake posted the $300 cash portion of his bond and was released from the Cook County Jail, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office.
Evanston Patch requested comment from Justin Blake Tuesday. Any response received will be added here.
Blake came to national prominence following the August 2020 shooting of his nephew Jacob Blake, who is Black, by white Kenosha police officer Ruston Sheskey.
A Kenosha County jury began second day of deliberation Wednesday in the trial of Lake County teen Kyle Rittenhouse, who faces homicide charges after shooting three demonstrators, two fatally, who had taken to the streets of Kenosha to protest Jacob Blake's shooting.
On Tuesday, Justin Blake told the New York Post that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers was a "coward and a racist to send out National Guards," adding that the "only National Guard he’s bringing out is for the people supporting Rittenhouse, while we’ll be celebrating that somebody’s going to jail, they’ll be quite upset."
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