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Police in Madison, Wisconsin, Fatally Shoot Black Man, Sparking Protests

HeadlineJul 23, 2026

In Madison, Wisconsin, protests erupted Wednesday after local police shot and killed a Black man less than two miles from the state Capitol. Police say they were responding to a report of a person allegedly checking parked vehicles, when they confronted the man on his bicycle who later fled the scene. After they tracked down the man, an armed struggle ensued when the man allegedly pulled out a knife and attacked an officer. Bystander video shows officers struggling with the man before he’s tasered, kicked and pressed to the ground. An officer then fires his gun at the man at close range. Urban Triage, a Madison-based Black community advocacy group, said, “Another Black man is dead on a Madison street, and our community watched him die before we even knew his name. That is the cruelty of state violence.”

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