Wisconsin governor calls for transparency after Madison officer fatally shoots man with knife
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The shooting death of a man who police said injured an officer with a knife while resisting arrest has roiled the city of Madison, Wisconsin, with Gov. Tony Evers calling for “transparency and accountability” in any investigation and community members gathering Thursday at a growing memorial.
The police chief said the officer who fired the fatal shots Wednesday had been injured by the knife, and that another officer was hurt. None of the four officers who were detaining the man wore body cameras, but passersby recorded the confrontation on video, and accused the officers of overreacting.
A crowd soon converged on the intersection, marching and bringing signs and flowers to a candlelight vigil near the spot where blood spilled from the man. Some chanted “Arrest the cops!” and marched to the state Capitol, where they took the stage at a summer concert series, demanding the name of the officer and that he be held accountable. The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra canceled the show.
Some remained through the night at the shooting scene as police closed the surrounding blocks to traffic.
“I don't plan to leave anytime soon because it's important to hold this space,” said Ben Weger, pastor of Stoughton United Methodist Church, who planted his chair near where someone wrote “Sacred Ground” in chalk amid the flowers. Other messages included, “We saw the videos” and “no fascist police.”
“His life mattered,” the governor said in an online post. “We will continue to keep the loved ones and family of the individual who was killed in our hearts and prayers.”
“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. He said the man killed was in his 30s. Police didn’t release his name.
Patterson urged caution in reading too much from the cellphone videos circulating on social media. He stressed that none of them show the perspective of the officers, and said additional video that hasn't been released is being reviewed.
The officer who was injured by the knife and fired his weapon is a veteran of the force, the chief said. He and the three other responding officers will be placed on administrative leave pending an independent investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation.
Patterson said police were responding to calls that someone was attempting to enter parked vehicles, and the suspect fled on a bike before the officers surrounded him. He either fell off his bike or was taken off his bike, and one of the four officers deployed a taser but failed to control him, Patterson said.
In the videos circulating online, the man can be seen standing before he's brought to his knees as the officers struggle to force him into a prone position. Then he falls quickly to the pavement after what sounds like three gunshots and stops moving as the officers handcuff him behind his back. Arriving officers then escort one of the officers a short distance away.
The shooting happened in the middle of an intersection in the popular Marquette neighborhood, which is lined with restaurants, bars, shops and homes less than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the state Capitol. The bystander videos show numerous cars at the scene, with people watching and commenting as it unfolded.
Residents who dealt with two other police killings within the same few blocks expressed their frustration on Thursday.
“It’s really unbearable,” said Sabrina Thompson, who was crying at the impromptu memorial. “You can’t describe it.”
In 2015, a white police officer shot and killed Tony Robinson, who was biracial, on the same street. Large protests followed, but the district attorney filed no charges, determining the officer was justified. In 2012, Paul Heenan, a white musician, was fatally shot after he had been drinking and mistakenly entered his neighbor's house. That officer was exonerated as well.
The chief acknowledged that the neighborhood “has experienced a lot of trauma” as he opened his news conference.
"I ask that everyone in our community please keep this particular neighborhood and the historical trauma, including today, in mind, and please take a moment to reflect and offer some support to one another,” the chief said.
The race of the officer who fired his gun on Wednesday and that of the man he killed were not released by police.
But Black advocacy groups in Madison quickly spoke out against the crime and said they believe the man 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.”
The shooting quickly infused itself into the race for governor, with voting already under way in the Aug. 11 primary.
“I am horrified and devastated,” posted Francesca Hong, a Democrat running for governor who showed up at the scene just a few blocks from her campaign office.
Another Democratic candidate, County Executive David Crowley, said while the details must become public, “these reports are painfully reminiscent of the tragedies we have witnessed in Kenosha, Minneapolis, and far too many communities across our country.”
The Republican candidate, Rep. Tom Tiffany, called on his rivals to let the state investigation “establish the facts without politicians rushing to judgment or stoking division” in a statement that also said he would "work to end revolving-door criminal justice policies.”
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This story has been updated to correct a surname: it's Sabrina Thompson, not Thompsen.
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