After a Madison, Wis., police shooting left another unarmed black man dead Friday evening, locals who protested his death this past weekend brought out signs and banners bearing the message “Black Lives Matter.”
To anyone who thought the protest movement would end as the spotlight on Ferguson, Mo., and the death of Michael Brown recedes, this latest incident proves that the issue of police use of force is still very much in the public consciousness.
According to local police, officer Matt Kenny initially responded to calls of a man who was jumping into traffic and had just assaulted someone. Kenny pursued 19-year-old Tony T. Robinson into an apartment building. Kenny got into an altercation with Robinson and fatally shot the teen when he assaulted Kenny.
It’s unclear how often American law enforcement shoots and kills a civilian. The federal government lacks reliable national data on deaths that occur in police custody; most states only choose to report that information voluntarily, and when they do, the numbers are collected from various sources.
