The shooting of Tony Robinson, 19, by a white Madison veteran
police officer on Friday is the latest in a string of
officer-involved deaths around the nation that have intensified
concerns about racial bias in U.S. law enforcement.
Organizers said they expect about 1,000 people to gather in a park
on Wednesday afternoon and march to the state corrections department
building nearby to protest Robinson's death.
The officer who shot Robinson, Matt Kenny, had responded to calls
about a man who had battered someone and was dodging traffic in the
street, police have said. Police said Kenny shot Robinson after the
teenager attacked him.
Each day since the incident, mourners and protesters have gathered
outside the house where Robinson died. On Monday, about 2,000
Madison teenagers walked out of their high school classes to
demonstrate at the state Capitol building.
The shooting has cast a light on the divide between the liberal
whites that dominate the university city and its black residents.
The demonstrations over Robinson's death, although peaceful, have
brought back memories of the sometimes violent clashes that erupted
in Ferguson, Missouri, in August after Michael Brown, 18, was
fatally shot and in November after a grand jury declined to approve
charges against the officer who shot him.
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Brown's shooting, and the choking death in New York of Eric Garner,
both of whom were black and unarmed, triggered demonstrations
against police use of force around the nation.
Kenny is on paid administrative leave and the Wisconsin Department
of Justice is investigating the shooting under a state law enacted
in early 2014 that requires independent investigators to take the
lead in officer-involved deaths.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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