Protests follow fatal police shooting of unarmed 19-year-old in Wisconsin

Peaceful protesters in Madison took to the college town’s streets with chants of “Black Lives Matter” following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 19-year-old by a white police officer, who authorities say fired after he was assaulted. The city’s police chief said he understood the anger, assuring demonstrators his department would defend their rights as he implored the community to act with restraint.

Tony Robinson died Friday night after being shot in his apartment following a confrontation with Officer Matt Kenny, who had forced his way inside after hearing a disturbance while responding to a call, authorities and neighbors said.

Several dozen protesters who gathered outside the police department Saturday afternoon held signs and chanted “Black Lives Matter” — a slogan adopted by activists and protesters nationwide after recent officer-involved deaths of unarmed blacks — before walking toward the neighborhood where the shooting took place.

Other high-profile deaths of black suspects at the hands of police officers have prompted nationwide protests, including that of Eric Garner, who died in July after New York City officers put him in a chokehold and a video showed him repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” A Cleveland police officer in November fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had been pointing a pellet gun at a playground. A Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot Dontre Hamilton last April was found to have acted in self-defense, but was fired for ignoring department policy regarding mental illness.

Koval said Kenny, a more than 12-year veteran of the Madison department, also shot and killed a suspect in 2007, but was cleared of wrongdoing because it was a “suicide by cop-type” situation. In that shooting, Kenny responded to a 911 call of a man with a gun and shot the man twice after police said he pointed the gun at officers. It turned out to be a pellet gun.

Chief Koval said police responded to a call about 6:30 p.m. Friday of a person jumping into traffic. A second call to police said the man was “responsible for a battery,” Koval said.

Kenny went to an apartment and forced his way inside after hearing a disturbance. Koval said the officer fired after being assaulted by Robinson; Koval said he couldn’t say how many shots were fired because it is part of the investigation.

One of Robinson’s neighbors, Grant Zimmerman, said Robinson would run between his apartment and his roommate’s mother’s house across the street “all the time, even in the middle of traffic.”

Wisconsin’s online courts database shows that Robinson, a 2014 graduate of Sun Prairie High School, pleaded guilty to felony armed robbery in October and was sentenced in December to three years’ probation. A police report said he was among four teenagers arrested in a home invasion in which the suspects were seen entering an apartment building with a long gun. They ran with electronics and other property and three of the four were captured. A shotgun and a “facsimile” handgun were recovered, according to the report.

Koval declined to discuss Robinson’s background Saturday, saying he thought it was inappropriate.

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