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A man -- who witnesses described as being part of a vigilante militia group -- with a long gun brazenly walked down a street in Kenosha, Wisconsin Tuesday night and began firing his weapon at people protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake, killing 2, and incredibly walking right past a swarm of cops who let him go into the night.

The protest centered around the courthouse and got out of hand, with water bottles, rocks and fireworks aimed at police. The police then fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd, which then dispersed and moved several blocks.

That's when the white vigilante appears on video with his gun. He reportedly had already shot someone several blocks away, and he was being chased by protesters who were trying to subdue him.

The vigilante falls to the ground as he's being chased and then begins unloading his weapon, striking and killing 2 people.

And, then the unthinkable happens. As police swarm the area in patrol cars and fortified vehicles, the vigilante -- gun clearly visible around his chest -- put his hands up in the air. The police vehicles all pass him, as the crowd screams he's the shooter.

It's a stunning contrast ... the white vigilante posed a clear and present danger, even if cops didn't know he was the shooter, yet Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, was shot in the back 7 times as he tried to get in his car. Jacob is now paralyzed from the waist down.

The vigilante escaped and is still on the loose.

Jacob Blake is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of being shot in the back by a cop in Kenosha, WI ... and he'll need a miracle if he's ever gonna walk again.

Jacob's father and mother got super emotional Tuesday as they asked for answers and prayers outside the Kenosha County Courthouse.

His dad fought back tears as he wondered why police shot his son in the back like his life didn't matter. His mother said she's praying for everyone, even the cops, and asked for an end to the riots and violence erupting in the aftermath of her son's shooting.

The family's lawyer, Ben Crump, and his legal team provided a harrowing update on Jacob's medical condition ... doctors are telling them Jacob will need a "miracle" to learn to walk again after a bullet ripped through his spinal cord.

Jacob was rushed into surgery Tuesday, with doctors removing his colon and small intestine. His lawyers also say he has holes in his stomach, plus damage to his liver, kidney and arm. More surgeries await Jacob, plus a long and difficult rehab.

Jacob's father got emotional again as he explained the toll the shooting is taking on the family ... he says his grandson keeps asking him why the police shot his dad.

His mother says Jacob's trying his best to keep in good spirits ... even telling a joke when she was finally allowed inside his hospital room.

The family says its planning to file a civil lawsuit to hold the cops involved accountable, and their lawyers are asking for the officers to be fired and arrested.

The shooting of another unarmed Black man resulted in growing protests Sunday night in Kenosha, which escalated to violence ... including a police officer being knocked out cold.

The unrest continued Monday, and a peaceful protest march through the city was again followed by violence and fires set to buildings after dark.

Jacob's mom says her son would not be pleased with the violence, and called for healing and prayer throughout the country.

As we reported ... Blake was shot 7 times in the back as he was walking away from cops and trying to get in his SUV. His partner and the couple’s 3 children were in the back seat of the vehicle screaming when police shot him. We're told they are severely traumatized by what they saw.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is once again on his death bed ... that is, if you buy what some South Korean officials are saying about his mysterious health status.

Chang Song-min -- a former aide to the late S. Korean President Kim Dae-jung -- recently told South Korean media that, based on intel he'd received, he assessed ol' Kim to be in a coma, but not entirely deceased quite yet.

He went on to say, "A complete succession structure has not been formed, so Kim Yo-jong is being brought to the fore as the vacuum cannot be maintained for a prolonged period."

There might be something to this, because N. Korea's own National Intelligence Service said that although Kim would still "exert absolute power," he would gradually begin to transfer authority to his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, to "ease stress." So ... something's up.

Frankly, we don't know what to believe when it comes to reports about KJU, 'cause one minute the guy's said to be six feet under after a botched heart surgery, and the next ... he's walking around in the flesh, making limited public appearances and looking sorta healthy.

Of course, there's been tons of theories -- including debunked body double takes -- but one that seems to be sticking now is that Kim might very well be on his way out the door. What's bizarre about this latest development is that Kim was reported to have been in a meeting, in-person, just as recently as this past week, and we saw photos of him in late July.

Also, he supposedly ordered the execution of some N. Korean officials pretty recently too. So ... what the hell does he have that could've knocked him on his ass (again?) so quickly???

Stay tuned ...

Cops fired flash-bang explosives into a crowd of protesters Saturday night in Lafayette, Louisiana ... this after Trayford Pellerin died being shot 11 times at a gas station.

The protest/vigil was held at the Shell gas station where 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin's life ended. He had allegedly been holding a knife as cops followed him. Police say they tased Pellerin, but he continued to walk toward the convenience store with a knife, and when he approached the door, they shot him.

What police didn't explain ... why 11 shots? Could they have disabled him with one shot so he couldn't enter the convenience store? So far, the PD has not addressed this point.

Around 150 people were at the station, when Lafayette Parish Sheriff's deputies wearing riot gear formed a line to block the protesters.

The protesters chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot," and at a point deputies fired their flash-bang explosives at the crowd.

Hard to figure out ... is this more futile or dangerous?

A dude named Trevor Murphy was trying to create a fire break in the middle of the raging wildfires in Phoenix ... with his tennis shoes!

Check it out ... Trevor was out on his morning run. He's training for the 100-mile Ultra Marathon in October and runs 10 to 20 miles a day.

He came across a fire started by a lightning strike and tried to keep the fire from spreading across the hiking trail. He didn't have a hoe, didn't have a shovel, but he had some kicks.

As the weatherman from the CBS affiliate in Phoenix watched in shock on the air, Trevor was kickin' up dirt, licking the flames with his shoes.

The man known as the Golden State Killer will be spending the rest of his days behind bars.

Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. learned his fate Friday when Judge Michael Bowman sentenced him to life without parole for murdering 13 people and raping 50 in a series of horrific crimes in the '70s and '80s that terrified California.

And, get this ... the judge sentenced DeAngelo in the ballroom at Sacramento State University, where the 74-year-old former police officer graduated almost half a century ago after earning a degree in criminal justice.

DeAngelo, wearing a long-sleeve white shirt over his orange jumpsuit, rose and removed his face mask to briefly speak before being sentenced, saying ... "I'm truly sorry to everyone I've hurt."

As we reported ... DeAngelo pled guilty in June to 13 first-degree murder charges and 13 counts of kidnapping for purposes of robbery. He also admitted guilt to rapes and abductions.

Karen is going Hollywood ... with an upcoming suspense thriller starring Taryn Manning!!!

The "Orange Is The New Black" star just signed on to play a "Karen" on the big screen ... in a story about a racist, entitled white woman in the South who terrorizes her new African-American neighbors. Sound familiar?

The movie, from writer and director Coke Daniels, seems like a mixture of all the "Karens" who have become Internet famous. Taryn's playing a Karen who believes people should stick to their own kind. Yeah, that's a Karen hallmark.

Taryn's character, Karen White, makes it her mission to oust the new kids on her block, a black family, by any means necessary. It's a very 2020 movie -- the neighbors are staunch Black Lives Matter supporters.

Taryn makes a lotta sense for the title character ... if you've seen her work in 'OITNB' you know she was Karen-ing way before it, unfortunately, became so prevalent in real life, it's a bonafide part of pop culture.

The Susan B. Anthony Museum's telling President Trump to kick rocks when it comes to pardoning the activist ... essentially saying it's unwanted, much less needed.

The museum's president and CEO, Deborah Hughes, said Tuesday, in no uncertain terms, "Objection! Mr. President, Susan B. Anthony must decline your offer of a pardon." She explained ... "Anthony wrote in her diary in 1873 that her trial for voting was 'The greatest outrage History ever witnessed.' She was not allowed to speak as a witness in her own defense, because she was a woman."

Hughes continued in her blog, "At the conclusion of arguments, Judge Hunt dismissed the jury and pronounced [Susan] guilty. She was outraged to be denied a trial by jury. She proclaimed, 'I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.' To pay would have been to validate the proceedings. To pardon Susan B. Anthony does the same."

As we reported ... Trump on Tuesday pardoned the women's rights activist for illegally casting her ballot in 1872. Remember ... it was illegal for women to vote back then.

The odd choice to pardon Susan came on the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment ... so to many, it came off like pandering.

Hughes says there's a better way the President can honor Susan ... "Enforcement and expansion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be celebrated, we must assure that states respect the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments to the United States Constitution. Support for the Equal Rights Amendment would be well received."

Dallas Grant, the Black child who had to face an allegedly blatant act of discrimination ... is now taking it to the streets with other kids who are fed up with racism.

The 9-year-old activist held a children's march Monday in Baltimore, outside the Ouzo Bay restaurant he was blocked from eating at a few months ago. You'll recall, an Ouzo staffer sent Dallas and his mom packing because he was wearing basketball shorts, sneakers and a T-shirt -- very much like a white kid who had been allowed entry.

His mother, Marcia, tells TMZ about 70 people showed up in solidarity to march with Dallas, and a lot of them had custom shirts specially made for the cause. As you can see, even though it was a relatively small crowd ... they were still fired up and loud as heck.

Marcia says the point of the protest was to show kids and youth that their voices matter -- and that they too can fight against systemic racism, despite their young age. She tells us she still wants the restaurant group that operates Ouzo to admit what they did to her boy.

As for Dallas, we're told he feels he's making a difference ... and is happy with the turnout, despite the fact some of the patrons they encountered didn't seem too pleased with their demonstration. In fact, one woman even gave them the finger and complained to a waiter.

As we reported ... this isn't the end of Marcia and Dallas' crusade against this company -- they've already filed a lawsuit and are seeking damages, claiming the kid was traumatized.

As for Atlas Group -- which runs Ouzo and other chain restaurants in town -- they denied they were discriminating or being racist but did apologize for the initial encounter ... saying they fired some staffers over bad judgment.

Rachael Ray's home in upstate New York appears to have suffered major damage from a fire that ripped through the inside, shooting flames out the roof.

Firefighters were called to the celebrity cook's house in Lake Luzerne Sunday night around 8 PM to battle the blaze, the cause of which is still unknown ... according to officials.

Fortunately, Rachael and her husband, John Cusimano, are safe. Rachael's rep, Charlie Dougiello, tells TMZ ... "Rachael, her husband John and their dog Bella are safe. Their home was unfortunately damaged and we are in the process of accessing to what extent."

Rachael has owned the home since 2013, and has been filming live cooking segments of her daytime talk show there during the coronavirus pandemic.

She was at a charity golf outing with John earlier Sunday and had shared photos of elaborate spreads of food just hours before the fire.

A volcano in Indonesia exploded in spectacular fashion this week, sending a tower of ash flying three miles high ... leaving surrounding villages and communities shrouded in darkness.

Mount Sinabung erupted Monday on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, sending a massive column of volcanic ash spewing thousands of feet into the sky -- 16,400 to be exact. Luckily, no one was killed or seriously hurt from the explosion, but there were warnings of lava flows.

Folks were advised to stay at least three miles away from the crater's mouth, where lava could literally hijack the landscape. And, although the immediate area around the volcano has been roped off for years, people were still covered in ash below.

The AP reports up to 2 inches of ash gathered in some of the abandoned villages along the volcano's slopes. People further out carried on like normal, apparently -- except for the fact they had to turn on their car headlights to see through the darkness.

Mount Sinabung had been dormant for centuries before first erupting again in 2010 ... and since then, it's been active and experienced explosions a handful of times in the years to follow. The 2010 eruption killed two, 16 more were killed in 2014 and 7 died in 2016.

2020 has brought us a deadly pandemic, a devastating hurricane, tornados, shocking examples of police brutality ... so really, how surprising is a big earthquake in North Carolina?

A 5.1 quake rocked Sparta, NC Sunday, just after 8 AM. The epicenter is near the Virginia border and was felt in South Carolina and Georgia.

It's the biggest earthquake to hit the area in more than 100 years.

Check out the video ... the beauty salon surveillance video shows the force of the quake as items all around sway back and forth.

The Mayor of Sparta said the quake was so loud it sounded like a train roaring down the track.

Fortunately, no injuries and only minor damage, but the shaking was real.

A 5.1 is a big quake, but typically significant damage usually occurs when a quake is in the 6's or higher. Of course, depending on the way buildings were constructed ... a 5.1 could do serious damage ... though not the case here.

This back-to-school pic didn't just alarm parents worried about their kids and coronavirus ... it also got at least 2 teenagers suspended.

Georgia's North Paulding High School hit the student, 15-year-old Hannah Watters, with a 5-day suspension for posting that photo -- a shot she took out of concern for her safety ... as well as her classmates'.

Hannah had captioned the pic, "Day two at North Paulding High School. It is just as bad. We were stopped because it was jammed." She added that she was pushed multiple times, and defiantly posted, "This is not ok. Not to mention the 10% mask rate."

The school's stance is that Hannah, and another student who posted the crowded hallway image, violated school policy about social media and posting images of minors without consent.

That's the letter of the school's law, obviously, but one could easily argue ... the safety of students and faculty should be getting some consideration here. Hannah clearly posted the photo because she was alarmed at the inability to social distance.

Hannah told BuzzFeed News she feels her suspension is excessive.

The photo went viral Tuesday as it highlighted the fears of parents, and for that matter ... teachers, as students return to schools for the first time since the pandemic began.

Oprah Winfrey is amping up the pressure to get justice for Breonna Taylor by blanketing Louisville with billboards demanding the arrest of the cops who shot her.

Oprah purchased dozens of billboards Thursday in Breonna's hometown -- her latest push for justice in the case.

The new billboards will also feature the Until Freedom website, a social justice org whose mission is to address systemic and racial injustice. This same group organized a rally outside of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's home, which resulted in 87 arrests. Their stories -- dubbed the "Louisville 87" -- are featured on Until Freedom's site.

There will be a total of 26 billboards across the city -- one for every year of Breonna's life. They're expected to be completed by Monday.

Remember, Det. Brett Hankison -- one of the 3 Louisville cops who fired their weapons during the deadly March 13 raid at Breonna's home -- has been fired but not charged.

The other 2 officers involved -- Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove -- were placed on administrative leave, but that's it.

The family has also claimed Breonna's home was targeted by cops as part of the city's gentrification plan.

As we reported ... Breonna posthumously made history last week when she landed on the cover of Oprah's magazine, the first time EVER in the magazine's 20-year history O herself was not front and center.

This video is incredible ... a guy on a jet ski captured the moment the entire city of Beirut shook after a massive explosion killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000.

The perspective is different from the video captured on land. The ferocity of the blast nearly capsized the jet ski as the driver reacts in panic.

The blast was equivalent to a 3.3 earthquake.

Lebanon's prime minister believes the cause of the explosion was 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that was just sitting for years in a warehouse. To put this in perspective ... it's 1,000 times more powerful than the Oklahoma City bombing.

A mom and daughter in England are not loving their McDonald's Chicken McNuggets -- they claim the little girl bit into the food and got a mouthful of face mask!!!

The not-so-Happy Meal was reportedly served Tuesday at a McDonald's in a London suburb. Laura Arber, the upset mother, claims her 6-year-old daughter, Maddie, started making choking noises after chowing down on the McNuggets.

Laura claims she put a finger down her daughter's throat to make her throw up the food, which she says was speckled with blue. Mom says she did some more investigating, puzzled by what her daughter was eating, tearing into the Chicken McNuggets with her fingers to discover parts of a blue surgical face mask.

Laura posted video showing what appears to be more blue face mask parts inside other Chicken McNuggets her daughter had not yet eaten ... and it's really gross.

McDonald's corporate office has since apologized for the incident ... and mom says her little girl is fine.