Kenosha County Board Supervisor Zach Rodriguez joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper to discuss the riots and violence unfolding in Rodriguez’s hometown Thursday.
Cooper asked Rodriguez what he thought about how the police have handled the “protests and violence” in the aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting.
“The police I think have done as much as the guys on the ground can do. Our day-to-day police officers. I think what we have seen here is failed leadership,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez attributes that failure in leadership to the Kenosha county sheriff and said he’s not assisting his police officers.
Rodriguez blamed the sheriff for not declaring a state of emergency Sunday night. “We knew that the protests would happen,” Rodriguez said, “he waited until the wee hours of Monday morning to do that [declare a state of an emergency] and then we look to the governor and the governor refused help from the federal government when we needed it very clearly after Monday night.” (RELATED: Daily Caller Reporter Richie McGinniss Tells Tucker Carlson About Kenosha Shooting That Left One Dead)
Cooper said there was a Facebook group, “calling for citizens to arm themselves and to come down to the protests they said to maintain order, protect property. ”
Cooper asked if he thought it was a good idea.
Rodriguez responded by saying, “I don’t think people need to go down to a place where we know there’s going to be conflict with their firearms, but I’ve got nothing wrong with business owners protecting their business if they feel the police can’t do that.”
He also noted that Kenosha locals are struggling to get into contact with law enforcement amidst the violence. “I spoke with constituents in my district who called me the next day and said ‘I called 911 as gas station or as my business was broken into and I was told we didn’t have the officers to respond,'” Rodriguez said. “Protect your business, protect your livelihood but I don’t think we need people going to the scenes of protests, I think that adds more confusion than anything.”