Man shot and killed by police in Madison, Wisconsin, sparking protests

A Madison police officer shot and killed a man who had injured him with a knife while resisting arrest, the city’s police chief said Wednesday.

Police have not identified the man who was killed, saying only that he was in his 30s.

“I want to take a moment to honestly and sincerely offer my heartfelt sympathies to his family for this loss,” Madison Police Chief John Patterson said at a news conference Wednesday.

Cellphone video of the shooting circulated on social media shortly after the incident. Three gunshots can be heard on the cellphone video.

Patterson stressed that the footage circulating was just one perspective of what happened.

“I ask the community to recognize that there is other video that they have not seen, that’s not circulating online, that will be reviewed as part of this investigation,” he said. “So, to the extent that they can as we all navigate this trauma together, we try to remain calm and remember that not all perspectives are online right now.”

The shooting happened on a city street in a popular neighborhood lined with restaurants, bars, shops and residential homes less than two miles from the state Capitol. Footage of the incident shows numerous cars stopped in the intersection with people watching as it unfolded.

A white police officer shot and killed Tony Robinson, who was biracial, on the same street in 2015, a shooting that spurred large protests. The district attorney did not file charges against police in that incident, determining the officer was justified. His family accepted a $3.35 million settlement from the city in 2017.

The race of the officer who fired his gun on Wednesday and that of the man killed were not released by police. But advocates for the Black community in Madison said the man killed was Black.

“Another Black man is dead on a Madison street, and our community watched him die before we even knew his name,” said Brandi Grayson, the head of the Madison-based Black community advocacy group Urban Triage. “That is the cruelty of state violence.”

A crowd formed near where the shooting occurred on Wednesday, with some people chanting, “Arrest the cops!” Among the protesters who gathered throughout the night was Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong.

“We’re gonna make sure that we’re able to support any assembly that might happen, any protest that might happen, but also not wanting to amplify any issues or create friction where it’s unnecessary, frankly, so we’ll be reaching out to community members and community leaders to hopefully strike the right balance,” Patterson said. 

Police were responding to calls that someone was attempting to enter parked vehicles in the neighborhood, Patterson said. The suspect fled on a bike through nearby backyards in an attempt to get away before officers contacted him in the street, the police chief said.

The suspect either fell off his bike or was taken off his bike by officers, and during the struggle pulled out a knife and injured an officer, Patterson said.

An officer deployed a taser but it was unsuccessful, the chief said. The same officer who was injured by the knife fired his weapon and the man who was shot later died at the hospital, the police chief said. He described the officer who fired his weapon as a veteran officer, but did not reveal any other details.

“When a knife is produced during officers’ apprehension arrest, the overall situation is clearly elevated. It becomes incredibly dangerous and it obviously increases risks for everyone there,” Patterson said. “For every officer. For the person as well. I think it severely narrows the scope of options and possible outcomes.” 

“This was not a small, folding knife. It’s a large, fixed-blade knife,” Patterson added, telling reporters a photo of the knife would eventually be shared.

“My understanding is there are some witnesses that also saw this, so I think we gotta, as a community, recognize we don’t have all the information right now, and we have to allow our investigators to piece things together and get as clear a picture as we can,” he said.

Another officer was injured, but it’s not clear how, Patterson said, noting police don’t believe that officer’s injuries were caused by the knife. The other two officers were uninjured.

All four officers will be placed on administrative leave, as is standard protocol for the department, during the investigation.

The Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation will investigate the shooting because it involves police officers.