Police fatally shoot man in Wisconsin who officials say was armed with knife
(CNN) — The man who was shot and killed after authorities say he pulled a knife and injured an officer during a struggle with Madison, Wisconsin, police officers Wednesday has been identified as Corey Ruiz, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said.
Madison Police Department Chief James Patterson said the killing of Ruiz is “an open active homicide investigation,” adding that the “Madison Police Department has called for a thorough and independent criminal investigation into yesterday’s shooting.”
“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,” Rhodes-Conway said during a news conference Thursday.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, which is reviewing the shooting that happened less than two miles from the state Capitol, will later share the name of the officer who fatally shot Ruiz, which Patterson said he “sincerely hopes is soon.”
“The more force we use, the less trust we have,” Patterson said during Thursday’s news conference. “That is the tension that we are living through right now in this city, and I can physically feel it.”
Ruiz was in his 30s, Patterson said on Wednesday.
The confrontation has sparked outcry from protesters in a city that has previously been rocked by anger over police-involved shootings.
As Patterson discussed the investigation, a small group of protesters interrupted the police chief and briefly took over the news conference, with some expressing anger over Ruiz’s death.
Shooting captured on video as police urge patience
Like many deadly police-involved shootings in the past, questions around the shooting center on how much of a threat the officer faced, the lack of body-worn cameras and what can be seen in a bystander video.
Police encountered the man while responding to a report of a person checking parked vehicles Wednesday afternoon, Patterson said during a news conference Wednesday.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the police department said officers “were called to the area for someone stealing bicycles and checking vehicle.”
Officers tried to make contact with him, but he fled on his bicycle through nearby backyards, according to police.
When they caught up to him later near the intersection of Williamson and South Baldwin streets on the city’s Near East Side, “a physical struggle ensued,” Patterson said. The man pulled out a fixed-blade knife and injured one officer, described as a “veteran officer,” who was trying to arrest him, the chief added.
“This was not a small, folding knife,” Patterson said. “It’s a large, fixed-blade knife.”
Bystander video filmed from a nearby car shows officers on the ground at an intersection, struggling with a man who is then pulled up to his feet. One officer can be heard yelling, “He’s got a knife,” while another yells “Taser! Taser! Taser,” deploying it as a police cruiser quickly pulls up. As the man begins to fall back to the ground and has his legs pinned by an officer’s foot, another officer appears to pull a gun, and three shots are heard. The officer who had drawn the Taser holds her hand to her mouth as she backs away.
It is not clear what happened before the video began and authorities are investigating whether the man fell from his bicycle or was physically removed by officers, Patterson said.
“There must be transparency and accountability in any investigation moving forward,” Democratic Gov. Tony Evers posted to Facebook. “We will continue to keep the loved ones and family of the individual who was killed in our hearts and prayers. His life mattered.”
“I encourage people to watch the video,” Michael Doubek, a witness who recorded it, told CNN affiliate WISC, saying he saw the man shot in the head. “I think it’s a pretty horrifying look at what happened.”
Sabrina Madison, president of Madison’s city council, told CNN she was shocked to see in the video that less than three seconds passed between the Taser deployment and the fatal gunshots.
“I just cannot let go that there are four officers, and there are three seconds where the officer at close range shoots him in the head three times,” she said. “That is heartbreaking.”
Patterson said he had seen the bystander video, saying it “is a perspective of what occurred.”
“I caution everyone, this is one perspective. It is not a full overview of everything that was visible from different angles, certainly visible from the officers,” he said.
The Wisconsin Professional Police Association called for patience.
“An independent investigation is underway, and we believe conclusions about what occurred should be based on the totality of the evidence, not incomplete information or any single recording that may capture only one perspective,” WPPA executive director Jim Palmer said in a statement to CNN.
The top prosecutor in Madison declined to comment on the case Thursday.
“I am ethically bound to not speak about open investigations and/or potential prosecutions,” Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne told CNN in an email.
A second officer was injured in the incident, though Patterson said it’s unclear how the injury occurred. He added authorities don’t believe the injury was caused by the man’s knife.
None of the officers involved was wearing a body camera, according to the police chief, adding the department does not have “any broad deployment of body cameras in Madison, unfortunately.”
Last month, Patterson publicly called for city funding for body-worn cameras, CNN affiliate WKOW reported, and Madison told CNN Thursday she expects that budget request to be approved. But even with funding, the plan calls for the cameras to be phased in over three years.
“Regrettably, because Madison officers are not equipped with body-worn cameras, investigators and the public will not have the benefit of video from the officers’ perspectives and will instead have to rely on other available video and evidence to help establish the full circumstances of what occurred,” Palmer said.
The Division of Criminal Investigation will review all footage posted online or submitted directly to the agency to assess the situation.
All four officers involved have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, Patterson said.
CNN reached out to the Madison Police Department for additional information and was referred back to an incident report.
Ruiz’s background
Madison, the city council president, remembered Ruiz as a person with “a family who loves him.”
“Corey 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,” she said.
Madison told CNN she doesn’t think Ruiz’s criminal record is relevant to the investigation.
“Police are not judge or jury,” Madison said. “That should not cross anyone’s mind about his history.”
Court records in Dane County show Ruiz has a lengthy history with local law enforcement. Since 2021, Ruiz entered guilty pleas to charges involving resisting police, including one for “battery or threat” to an officer and another for resisting an officer while causing “substantial bodily harm or a soft tissue injury.”
Ruiz pleaded guilty in those cases and was sentenced to 30 months in prison and extended supervision. He was most recently convicted of resisting or obstructing an officer and possessing drug paraphernalia in 2024, both misdemeanors.
Ruiz was released on community supervision on May 19, according to records from the state Department of Corrections, which list his most recent status as “absconded.” The Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ administrative code says absconding is “the failure of a client to make himself … available as directed by the agent.”
City has history of controversial shootings
Patterson acknowledged the shooting “occurred in a neighborhood that has experienced a lot of trauma in the past.”
On the same street in 2015, a White police officer shot and killed an unarmed, biracial 19-year-old, Tony Robinson, leading to major protests. Three years before that, Paul Heenan, a 30-year-old White musician, was shot to death after mistakenly entering the wrong house and scuffling with police who responded.
In both cases, the shooting officer’s actions were found to be justified. The city paid Robinson’s and Heenan’s families a total of $5.65 million in settlements, Robinson’s attorneys said.
The race of the victim and the officer from Wednesday’s shooting have not been disclosed.
Black community and social activist groups have condemned the latest killing, as peaceful protesters gathered Wednesday in Madison, chanting “No justice, no peace.” By Thursday morning, protesters were camping at the intersection where the shooting took place, blocking it with a sofa and mattresses. Candles, flowers and protest signs were placed at the scene.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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