Protests broke out late Friday after a 19-year-old Madison, Wis., man was shot and killed inside his home by a police officer after an alleged struggle, according to Madison Police Chief Mike Koval, the New York Daily News reports.
Details were still sketchy early Saturday, but initial reports allege that the officer was assaulted after responding to reports of a disturbance in an apartment, the News says, citing a report at the Daily Cardinal, the student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
“The officer did draw his revolver and subsequently shot the subject,” said Koval, who did not identify the officer or the slain man, the report says. But friends and family named the 19-year-old as Tony Robinson, notes the News’ report.
It didn’t take long for protests to erupt after the shooting, which comes on the heels of a damning Justice Department report of persistent anti-black bias in the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department. A white Ferguson officer fatally shot unarmed black teen Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014, an event that touched off protests over police use of force in the nation’s black communities. It is unclear whether Robinson had a weapon, but initial reports indicated that he was unarmed, the News writes.
“You’re not protecting us! You’re killing us!” Robinson’s grandmother shouted at police as protesters rallied in the streets into early Saturday, the News writes.
The shooting is under investigation.
Read more at the New York Daily News.