Wisconsin
police fatally shoot black teen, prompting protest
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[March 07, 2015]
(Reuters) - Wisconsin police fatally
shot an apparently unarmed African-American teenager on Friday,
prompting dozens of people to protest at the site of the killing,
according to police and videos published on social media.
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Madison Police Chief Mike Koval told reporters that an officer
responded to a disturbance at around 6:30 p.m. local time and later
forced his way into an apartment that the 19-year-old, who was also
suspected of a recent battery, had gone into.
Koval said that a struggle between the suspect and the officer
ensued and the teen was fatally shot, according to a recording of
the news conference published by broadcaster WKOW.
"The initial finding at the scene did not reflect a gun or anything
of that nature that would have been used by the subject," Koval
said.
The shooting comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of police
violence against minorities across the country. Protests have been
held in Los Angeles and Washington state in recent days over police
killings of unarmed men from minority groups.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2012/Jun/18/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png) Videos published on social media showed around 100 protesters at the
scene of the shooting chanting slogans like, "Who can you trust? Not
the police," in front of a row of officers.
Many of the demonstrators then moved the protest to inside the
Madison City County building, according to videos published on
Twitter. It was not immediately clear if there were any arrests.
The Wisconsin State Journal newspaper reported that friends of the
teenager, identified as Anthony "Tony" Robinson by demonstrators,
gathered at the site and said he was a happy person.
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"I still can't even fully wrap my head around this," 17-year-old
Jack Spaulding told the Journal.
Koval did not identify the suspect during the news conference.
Madison Mayor Paul Soglin told the Journal that there would be an
out-of-area investigation into the shooting as required by a newly
passed state law.
"It's a tragedy beyond description," Soglin told the Journal. "I
expect there will be a lot of anger and frustrations."
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Robert
Birsel and Pravin Char)
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