Washington:
A police officer shot and killed a 19-year-old black youth who allegedly assaulted him in Madison, Wisconsin, the city’s police chief said on Saturday.
The incident last evening touched off protests in the Midwestern university city, and local media reported a heavy police presence in the area where the shooting occurred.
It was the latest in a string of police shootings of young blacks that have set racial tensions on edge in the United States, igniting a nationwide debate over police tactics in minority communities.
Police chief Mike Koval told WKOW television the police officer was responding to a report of a battery and had forced his way into an apartment after hearing sounds of a disturbance inside.
“Once inside the home, the subject involved in the incident—the same one who had been allegedly out in traffic and had battered someone—this same subject then assaulted my officer, and in the context of mutual combat in that sense, the officer did draw his revolver and subsequently shot the subject,” Koval said.
Koval said the officer then administered CPR, and the wounded youth was taken to a hospital where he died.
He said an initial search found no gun or other weapon at the scene.
The shooting was under investigation by the city’s Department of Criminal Investigations, he said.
The police chief appealed for calm. “In light of so much things that have happened not just
across this country but in our own community, it is understandable that the reaction at the scene and of some of our citizens is extremely volatile, emotional and upsetting. We understand that. That’s absolutely appropriate under these circumstances.
“We would urge obviously that everybody exercise restraint, calm, and allow the Department of Criminal Investigations to conduct their affairs," he said.
