The shooting sparked protests in the city, with demonstrators chanting “black lives matter” on the streets and conducting a sit-in at the City Hall.
Tony Robinson was shot dead by police officer Matt Kenny, who was responding to a report of battery and a man jumping in and out of traffic in a residential area at around 6.30pm.
He then forced his way into an apartment after hearing sounds of a disturbance inside, said Madison police chief Mike Koval on Saturday.
“Once inside the home, the subject involved in this incident – the same one who had allegedly been 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 shoot the subject,” Koval said in a public statement.
Kenny then administered CPR and Robinson was taken to a local hospital where he later died.
Protestors gather during a rally on Saturday 7 March in Madison, Wisconsin, against the shooting of Tony Robinson
Koval said an initial search found no gun or other weapon at the scene. The shooting is now under investigation by the city’s Department of Criminal Investigations.
“We have to be clear about this,” Koval said. “He was unarmed. That’s going to make this all the more complicated for the investigators, the public, to accept, to understand… why deadly force had to be used.”
Police investigate the shooting of Tony Robinson in Madison, Wisconsin, on 6 March
Koval also appeared conciliatory in his address, saying he understood distrust in the community after “this tragic death”.
It was also reported that Kenny, a police department employee for twelve years, used deadly force in 2007, when he also shot and killed a man.
Madison police chief Mike Koval speaks at a press conference on Saturday 7 March 2015
He was later exonerated of any wrongdoing, even receiving a commendation, according to the police chief. The incident was later concluded to be “suicide by cop”.
Robinson’s shooting is the latest in a string of African-American deaths at the hands of police in the US that have stirred racial tensions and prompted accusations of institutionalised racism.
It comes days after the US Justice Department said it would not prosecute Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, whose death sparked riots and nationwide debate.
In its report the Justice Department said the St Louis suburb’s local police system had systematically targeted African Americans.
De nueva cuenta un agente de la policía de Estados Unidos ha asesinado a un joven afroamericano. En esta ocasión se trata de un hombre de 19 años de edad cuyo nombre, a pesar de no ser divulgado oficialmente, trascendió como Tony Robinson a través de sus familiares.

El viernes 6 pasado, durante la noche, el joven oriundo de Madison, estado de Wisconsin resultó herido de proyectiles de arma de fuego y pereció momentos después de ser trasladado a un hospital. Mike Koval, jefe de la policía de Madison, ha declarado que Robison “estaba desarmado” y admitió que ese factor “complicará … que lo acepte la ciudadanía, que entienda por qué debió utilizarse la fuerza letal”.

El nombre del agente policial —blanco— que perpetró el homicidio es Matt Kenny, quien se había desplazado hasta la zona del ataque para responder a una presunta agresión física; al escuchar ruidos dentro de un departamento que lo hicieron sospechar de un disturbio, Kenny ingresó por la fuerza al inmueble; Robinson reaccionó automáticamente para defenderse de la repentina irrumpida en el domicilio, lo que provocó que el agente le disparara con su revólver, según declaraciones de Koval.

En una búsqueda inicial no se halló ninguna arma que el joven negro pudiera haber utilizado contra los agentes policiales.