Madison city officials attempted to hold a press conference Thursday after a police officer shot and killed a man, identified as Corey Ruiz, at a busy intersection on Williamson and Baldwin streets Wednesday. The briefing was derailed by a group of protesters who arrived and took over the podium, sparking a verbal altercation with Madison residents who also wanted to express their discontent and question Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Police Chief John Patterson, and Common Council President Sabrina Madison. 

“My immediate concern, right now, is for the well-being of our community,” Rhodes-Conway said at the beginning of the press conference, speaking to reporters while local residents began taking seats in the small room. “I want to make sure that everyone who needs it has access to resources and mental health support. Those resources exist, and are available if you need them.” 

Rhodes-Conway urged residents to use the 9-8-8 hotline for urgent mental health support, or to text either “home” or “hola” to 741-741 to reach volunteer crisis counselors, or to contact the Dane County crisis hotline at 608-280-2609. 

The shooting triggered  outrage, anger and  grief among residents, especially those who witnessed it directly. 

Video taken by bystanders shows several officers wrestling Ruiz to the ground. While he is on the ground, one of the officers appears to fire several shots into Ruiz’s head at close range. The Madison Police Department does not have a universal body camera program, and Chief Patterson has pushed local elected officials to implement a body camera program in the 2027 budget. During the press conference Thursday, Patterson said a criminal homicide investigation has been opened in the shooting.

The shooting is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation. Patterson said Wednesday that the officer who fired was injured by a fixed-blade knife Ruiz brandished. Patterson also said that officers had confronted Ruiz after responding to a call from someone in the neighborhood who said he was checking cars, but that Ruiz fled before they chased him to  the intersection. 

State law requires that officer-involved shootings be investigated by an outside agency in order to maintain objectivity and public trust. The investigations can take months, after which the case is handed over to a local district attorney who then determines whether an officer will be charged for the shooting. Madison residents, impatient for more information and still angry about the 2015 police shooting of Tony Robinson in the same neighborhood, are demanding a response from city officials.

“This is an incredibly difficult moment for the Madison community,” Rhodes-Conway said. “And I understand the very difficult emotions that people are feeling. I am feeling them too. As a city, as a community, as a society, we have to do better.” She added  that “it does not matter who you are, or what your past is, you should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement. That should not happen.” 

“Like many in our community today, I have a lot of questions and concerns about what happened yesterday,” Rhodes Conway said, “what decisions were made by officers that led to escalation instead of de-escalation; what different choices could have been made to prevent harm; what needs to change — police policy, or training, or anything else — to prevent more deaths.”

Madison, the city council president, said Ruiz could have been any number of people, including people she knows and loves. She added that she has family members who have struggled with mental illness, homelessness, and that Black and brown children are taught by their parents how to interact with police in order to survive the encounter, something Madison said her white friends with children have no need to discuss with their own sons. Madison said that Ruiz “is a person, he’s a human being, he has a family, he has parents who loved him, you know, who brought him home, who cared for him, who poured into him.”

Watching the videos Madison said she could hear the sounds, she could hear officers yelling “taser,” and she can also hear the shots fired. Madison said she asked herself, “When the officer’s walking away, why isn’t he walking away in cuffs?” She said her thoughts are with Ruiz’s family because “his death is final, there is no coming back from death.” 

Madison, the mayor, and the police chief all called for a full, fair and transparent investigation. Madison also said that “we should be pushing and advocating for our district attorney to charge folks” and that people should engage with the district attorney, the Division of Criminal Investigation, the city’s independent police monitor, and the Police and Fire Commission. Madison encouraged residents to file complaints with those organizations, as well as the police department. “I think you should take every route for justice for Corey; I don’t think you should limit yourself.” 

Patterson said that he didn’t want to “rush past” the fact that Ruiz’s family and the community are grieving. He said that the Madison Police Department requested a full, independent criminal investigation. Patterson said that the Division of Criminal Investigation will release the name of the officer on its own timeline, and that the Madison Police Department has limited information about and involvement in the investigation. Recalling the words of retired former Madison Police Chief David Couper, Patterson said that police “cannot do the job unless you have the support of the community.” He added that Couper once wrote that “use of physical force by police is a sacred public trust…The more force a department uses, the less trust and support it has from the people it serves. The more force we use, the less trust we have.”

As Patterson spoke about the need to recognize  the trauma the community has experienced from  past shootings, Carlos LeMar Dixon of Milwaukee entered the room with a small entourage. Dixon yelled, “We can shut this down, you can stop talking!” 

“You’re going to say the same thing you all say every time a Black body gets shot down in this city,” Dixon yelled, adding, “Have no fear, the anti-Zionist is here!” 

Dixon continued yelling over the chief while walking to the podium, about imperialism and Zionism, asserting that he would not allow any public officials to speak or answer questions. Dixon also scolded reporters in the room to hear the briefing from public officials for not asking him questions instead. 

Some of Dixon’s supporters also yelled, helping him drown out the mayor, chief and common council president. Meanwhile some Madison residents in the room argued with Dixon, sparking a tense verbal confrontation as Dixon and members of his group hurled insults and threats at various people. Some of the Madison residents, while critical of the public officials at the briefing, demanded that Dixon either calm down or leave so that relevant questions could be asked. 

At one point after the chaotic exchange, Mayor Rhodes-Conway left and Patterson held the podium to answer questions. 

Patterson answered a question from the Examiner about whether officers are trained under Defense and Arrest Tactics to use the least amount of force necessary to overcome a threat, and whether officers who use deadly force must evaluate whether the threat is still present after each shot is fired. “There is a standard of a threat of great bodily harm or death that must be articulated to one’s self or someone else,” Patterson began. “And so that is a standard that [Division of Criminal Investigation] will be evaluating when they start, that is a standard that we use when we use our use of force review.” 

Under Defense and Arrest Tactics, there are several levels of force available to police officers including their mere presence, which can discourage criminal activity, less lethal force such as  tasers and deadly force. The standard for use of force is evaluated through the perspective of a hypothetical “reasonable officer” faced with the same situation, and questions whether such an officer would have used deadly force. Prior to shooting Ruiz, one of the four officers involved deployed a taser, which Patterson said was ineffective. 

The Examiner asked Patterson how the reasonable officer standard would apply when four officers are involved in a situation and only one officer chooses to use deadly force. Patterson declined to respond to that question citing the ongoing investigation. Patterson also said that the officer who fired was not a supervisor — such as a sergeant or lieutenant — but that he was a veteran officer with 11 years experience. He added that he did not have information about whether the officer who fired had a history of discipline or citizen complaints, but he did say that he’d never been involved in a deadly force incident before. 

Evening vigil 

More than 24 hours after the shooting, protesters still controlled the intersection where Ruiz was killed. Initial barricades of garbage bins and mattresses were reinforced by police blockades and Madison city snow plows.

Activists and community members held a vigil Thursday evening in the intersection with hundreds of people somberly listening as pained members of Madison’s Black community spoke, with chants of Ruiz’s name interspersed like the response in a prayer.

Juliana Bennett, a former Madison alder who is now running in the Democratic primary for the 76th Assembly District — which includes Willy Street — noted in a speech to the crowd that the killing of Ruiz took place six years after the police protests of 2020, which themselves took place six years after Madison police killed Tony Robinson, a few blocks west of the spot where the vigil was held, in 2015.

Bennett said that police killings are policy decisions and noted that in a liberal community such as Madison, police violence and racism are often met with “committee after committee, meeting after meeting,” and implored community members to continue pressing local officials for change. 

In the center of a busy intersection on Williamson and Baldwin Streets in Madison, Wisconsin, several officers from the Madison Police Department wrestled a man to the ground in the early afternoon Wednesday, used a taser on him and then shot him at close range. Unable to cross the intersection, several vehicles stopped and their drivers got out to film the arrest. In videos posted online, residents can be heard screaming in shock and anger. Hundreds of protesters converged on the scene Wednesday evening and marched downtown, interrupting the Concert on the Square. Protest speakers identified the man as Corey Ruiz and a crowd of hundreds of people chanted his name. 

Madison Police Chief John Patterson held a press conference Wednesday, urging residents to keep the Willy Street neighborhood in mind and the “historical trauma” that arises when officer-involved shootings occur. Patterson said that officers responded to a call concerning a person apparently checking parked vehicles. When officers encountered the man he fled on a bicycle, riding through backyards until he lost the officers. They caught up with him again, at which point the man “either fell off or was taken off the bicycle by officers,” Patterson said. 

During the struggle, Patterson said the man produced a “fixed blade knife,” injuring one of the officers who then fired his weapon multiple times. Patterson described the officer as a “veteran” who was the only officer to fire out of the four who were involved in the struggle. Video also shows one of the officers seemingly stomping the man while he was on the ground as the first shot was fired.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is leading the investigation into the shooting. Wisconsin law dictates that officer-involved shootings must be investigated by an outside, uninvolved agency to maintain objectivity. After the investigation is over, which may take weeks or months, a local district attorney reviews the findings and decides whether or not to charge an officer for the shooting. Such charges are exceedingly rare in Wisconsin.

Due to the ongoing investigation Patterson declined to  answer questions about the details of the shooting  Wednesday. Madison police officers do not have body cameras, and Patterson has pushed for body cameras to be included in the 2027 city budget. Patterson said that the man’s family had been notified before he spoke with the media, and he expressed  his sympathies to them. 

Democratic primary candidates in the governor’s race issued statements about the shooting. Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) said that the police had “killed a Black man just a few blocks from our campaign office and just a few blocks from where Madison police murdered Tony Robinson in 2015.” Hong said that she is “horrified and devastated” and that her heart “goes out to his loved ones and everyone who witnessed this tragic event.” Hong said that all police footage of the shooting needs to be preserved and released, and that questions need to be asked of the police department as to why its officers could not de-escalate the situation. 

Milwaukee County Executive and Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley said, “I am horrified by the reports coming out of Madison about a man who was shot and killed in the street by police officers. While details are still emerging and a full accounting of what happened is still needed, these reports are painfully reminiscent of the tragedies in Kenosha, Minneapolis, and far too many communities across our country. Each incident reopens deep wounds, raises difficult questions, and reminds us of the urgent work that remains to build trust, transparency, and accountability in our systems.” Crowley said his “heart is with the individual’s loved ones, who are now facing an unimaginable loss, and with the entire Madison community as it grapples with this tragedy.”

Joel Brennan, another Democratic primary candidate, said that Madison “deserves a full, transparent, and independent accounting of what happened.” Brennan added that “no family should have to wait for answers, no community should have to wonder whether the truth will come out. The Wisconsin DOJ investigation must be allowed to do its work completely and without interference.”

State Sen. Kelda Roys, another candidate in the primary, said, “Let this city wrap its arms around Corey’s family and loved ones, and demand justice for him and them and all of us. There must be a full, independent investigation and the responsible officers held fully accountable under the law, as required by Wisconsin statute. The Department of Justice should serve as the lead investigator to ensure fairness and impartiality. We do not have to accept this as normal or inevitable. It is NOT. No other country in the world tolerates this level of police violence. We can and must create a more just, safe world for all of us.”

Melissa Agard, Dane County Executive, said, “our community is once again confronting the profound consequences that follow when a life is lost in an encounter with law enforcement.” Agard said, “this is not just another headline, this is someone’s child. A family is grieving an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with them, with everyone affected by this tragedy, and with the bystanders and emergency personnel who responded to an incredibly difficult situation.” Agard said that every police shooting “shakes the public trust and leaves our community searching for answers.” She added, “we cannot become numb to these tragedies or accept them as inevitable.”

Ruth Conniff contributed to this report.

Updated on Thursday, July 23 at 8:04 a.m.