A man in his 30s died Wednesday afternoon after being shot by a Madison police officer during a confrontation on the city’s near-east side, marking the first officer-involved shooting in the city in recent years and reigniting concerns about police use of force and accountability in a neighborhood haunted by a deadly 2015 incident.
Madison police officers were dispatched around 1 p.m. to the Marquette neighborhood in response to reports of a person checking through parked vehicles. When officers attempted to contact the man, he fled on a bicycle through nearby backyards. Officers located him again around 1:30 p.m. near the intersection of Baldwin Street and Williamson Street.
According to Police Chief John Patterson, the man either fell off or was taken off his bicycle by officers—details still being investigated. As the struggle unfolded in the middle of the street, the man allegedly produced a large knife. One officer deployed a Taser, but it proved ineffective. Four officers were involved in the physical altercation, during which an officer sustained an injury from the knife.
The officer who was injured by the knife subsequently fired multiple shots at the man. Witness videos captured three gunshots. Officers attempted lifesaving measures on the scene before transporting the man to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Another officer was injured during the altercation, though authorities said it was unclear how that injury occurred.
Patterson described the officer who fired the weapon as a veteran but declined to identify him. All four officers involved have been placed on administrative leave. The man who died has not been identified by officials, and his family has been notified of his death. Witnesses who recorded video from the scene identified him as a person of color.
Multiple witnesses provided accounts that conflicted with police claims about the man’s actions. Resident Richard Hegwood, who lived at the intersection and filmed the incident, said he saw police chasing a man on a bike before they tackled him. “They catch the dude, they have him on the ground, he’s struggling, he’s struggling to get up, and that’s when they shot him, they shot him three times,” Hegwood recounted. “I never saw a weapon, he never brandished a weapon.”
Another resident, Michael Doubek, offered a detailed account of the struggle. He described seeing an officer knock the man from his bicycle, followed by multiple officers converging on him. “He was on the ground, he had nearly been handcuffed, he had already been tased,” Doubek said.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the shooting, as required by state law. After the investigation concludes, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne will decide whether to bring charges against any officers. Patterson vowed to collaborate with the city’s Office of the Independent Monitor during the investigation.
The absence of body camera footage again became a point of contention. Madison Police Department officers do not wear body cameras, a fact that has drawn criticism from City Council members and police accountability advocates. Last year, the department did not report discharging firearms at any suspect. The shooting underscores persistent debates about police tactics and equipment, particularly as police departments nationwide have adopted body cameras as standard tools.
The location of Wednesday’s shooting carries historical weight in Madison. The incident occurred about a block and a half away from where police shot and killed Tony Robinson, a 19-year-old unarmed Black man, in March 2015. That shooting sparked large protests and walkouts throughout the city. Officer Matt Kenny was not charged in Robinson’s death, though the city later settled a lawsuit brought by Robinson’s family for $3.35 million, the largest settlement in Wisconsin history for an officer-involved shooting at that time.
Police Chief Patterson acknowledged the neighborhood’s traumatic history during a Wednesday evening press conference. “I want to start with an acknowledgement that today involves a very traumatic incident,” Patterson said. “A traumatic incident that has occurred in a neighborhood that has experienced a lot of trauma in the past.”
The shooting drew immediate attention from community members and elected officials. Multiple streets in the area were blocked off, and crowds gathered at the scene. District 6 Alder Davy Mayer issued a statement expressing his priority to ensure community safety and transparency. “My priority is to make sure the community remains safe and that the public receives full details about what happened as soon as possible,” Mayer wrote.
Patterson offered condolences to the deceased man’s family. “I want to take a moment to honestly and sincerely offer my heartfelt sympathies to his family for this loss,” he said, asking Madisonians to “please take a moment to reflect and offer some support to one another.”