Police fatally shots an unarmed African American in Madison Wisconsin on Friday. According to the police report, the incident took place after a confrontation between a police officer and the 19-yaer old black man.
The deceased was identified by a family member as Tony Robinson. It was also confirmed that he graduated from Sun Prairie High School. It was also confirmed by the police that the shooting took place at Friday evening. Local media reported that it sparked a protest by hundreds of people and they started a sit in the Madison City Hall.
In a statement the Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said, the police were responding to a report of a man jumping into the traffic. He said, an officer went to an apartment where the man had gone into and after hearing a disturbance the officer went inside. The police didn’t reveal the identity of the man at that time. Koval confirmed the officer shot the 19-years old teenager after he was assaulted and didn’t know if the person had any weapon on him or not. It was also confirmed that, one more shot was fired at the scene. Koval said, “The initial finding at the scene did not reflect a gun or anything of that nature that would have been used by the subject”. It was also reported that, the 19-year old was also a suspect in a recent battery incident.
It was reported by the local media that groups called Young, Gifted and Black Coalition gathered at the scene of the incident and started chanting “Black lives matter”. Madison Mayor Paul Soglin told the media that there would be an out-of-area investigation into the shooting as required by a newly passed state law. He said, “It’s a tragedy beyond description. I expect there will be a lot of anger and frustration”.
The shooting comes at a time of intensified scrutiny of police violence against minorities across USA in recent months.