News / Human Rights

US police shoot dead another black teenager

Saturday, 07 March 2015 8:54 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 07 March 2015 2:45 PM ]

Madison police secure the scene of an officer-involved shooting Friday evening on Williamson Street on Madison's East Side.

A US police officer has shot dead an unarmed African American in the state of Wisconsin in what seems to be another case of police brutality against black people in the country.

Twenty-year-old Tony Robinson was shot dead during an altercation in an apartment on Williamson Street early in the evening on Friday, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval told reporters.

Koval said the officer, who was responding to a disturbance at around 6:30 pm local time, forced his way into the apartment where the victim had already gone into.

The officer was “knocked down” after Robinson hit him in the head but the two were engaged in a “mutual combat” and eventually the officer shot Robinson in the head, Koval explained.

“The officer did draw his revolver and subsequently shot the subject,” he said, adding more than one shot was fired.

Robinson had apparently “battered someone” and had been “out in traffic” before he entered that apartment, police say.

There is no indication that shows Robinson was carrying or using a weapon against the officer, Koval noted.

"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.

Following the shooting, a crowd of demonstrators and organizers from the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition congregated at the apartment with police blocking off the area around the scene of the shooting.

Videos published on social media showed protesters saying "Who can you trust? Not the police".

Koval himself said that considering "things that have happened not just across the country but in our own community," the protests were "understandable" and "absolutely appropriate under the circumstances."

Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, who was near the scene at the time of the incident and heard a gunshot, said “Obviously this is a huge tragedy”. She added, “My heart goes out to the family involved.”

Michael Johnson, executive officer of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, said in a Twitter message that "The family has asked for peaceful protest".

The fatal shooting comes at a time that US police are under harsh criticism for using brutal tactics against people of color and minorities. Protests have been held in many cities across the country over the police fatal shootings of other unarmed black people and juries’ failure to indict the cops responsible for the killings.

AT/GJH

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