Wisconsin DA to announce decision in shooting by policeman
May 10, 2015, 4:12 PM
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin prosecutor said he will announce on Tuesday whether charges will be filed against a white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed 19-year-old biracial man in Madison.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne had promised to give the public advance notice of the announcement in the case of Madison Officer Matt Kenny, who shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson in an apartment on March 6. Ozanne issued a brief statement on Sunday saying he would make his findings public on Tuesday.
Police have said Kenny was responding to reports that Robinson had assaulted two people and was running in traffic. Investigators said Robinson attacked Kenny but other details haven’t been released.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice investigated the incident under a state law that requires an outside agency to lead probes into officer-involved shootings. Ozanne said he received the last investigative reports from the agency on April 13 and has been mulling a decision since then.
The shooting has sparked multiple street protests led by the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition. The protests have been peaceful, although demonstrators have demanded Kenny be fired and charged with homicide. They also have said they don’t trust Ozanne, saying he’s part of a corrupt criminal justice system that targets blacks.
Police arrested at least four protesters in April after they blocked one of Madison’s main thoroughfares for eight hours.
Racial tension between police and minorities has been running high in several U.S. cities, most recently in Baltimore, where riots erupted after the funeral for Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody. Other high-profile cases of officers killing unarmed black residents include the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Eric Garner in New York City; and Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Six officers involved in Gray’s death have been charged, as has the officer who killed Scott. Grand juries declined to charge the officers involved in Brown’s and Garner’s deaths.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is expected to run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, was in Israel on Sunday. Asked if Walker plans to cut the trip short to be in Wisconsin when the decision is announced, Jocelyn Webster, a spokeswoman for Walker’s office, said in an email Sunday: “There have been peaceful demonstrations in the past and we expect that to be the case in the future. As always, Governor Walker is in regular contact with executive staff, regardless of his location.”
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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this story.
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