Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times by a Kenosha police officer on Sunday, has had his handcuffs removed in the hospital and a felony warrant vacated, his attorney Patrick Cafferty said, adding that guards have also left Blake’s hospital room. News that Blake, who is paralyzed from the waist down, was in cuffs shocked Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday. “He’s paid a horrific price already being shot seven or eight times in the back. I can’t imagine why that’s happening,” Evers said. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump released a joint statement with co-counsels Salvi and B’Ivory Lamarr on the vacated warrant: “Fortunately, a man who is paralyzed and fighting for his life after being shot seven times in the back, will no longer have to deal with the pain of having his ankles and wrist shackled and the traumatic stress of being under armed guard.”

Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis appeared unaware of the development during a Friday afternoon update on the case. He said that an outside law enforcement agency had handcuffed Blake and was guarding him because Blake was under arrest on a July warrant for third-degree sexual assault. Miskinis said he didn’t know if officers who tried to arrest Blake on Sunday knew of the warrant, or whether it was the reason for the arrest. The probe is being handled by the state Department of Justice rather than the Kenosha P.D., as per Wisconsin law.