Wisconsin shooting: Hundreds expected to attend funeral for Robinson

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/14/tony-terrell-robinson-funeral-wisconsin-shooting

Version 0 of 1.

Related: Tony Terrell Robinson was shot dead by Madison police. This is how it happened

Hundreds were expected on Saturday to attend the funeral for Tony Terrell Robinson, an unarmed 19-year-old who was killed last weekend by a Madison police officer.

Robinson died on 6 March after what police say was a confrontation in which he assaulted the officer. Preliminary autopsy reports released on Friday said he was shot in his head, right arm and torso.

The reports from the Dane County Medical Examiner did not say how many times Robinson was shot, or whether he was shot while facing or turned away from the officer, but they determined he died from “firearm related trauma”. The medical examiner did not say when a final report would be released, but said the results of toxicology tests were not expected for several more weeks.

Robinson was fatally shot by police officer Matt Kenny after Kenny was summoned to a call that the young man was jumping in and out of traffic and had assaulted someone. Authorities said the officer heard a disturbance and forced his way into an apartment where Robinson had gone, and fired after Robinson assaulted him.

There have been numerous peaceful protests since the shooting, often drawing about 1,000 people.

The shooting exposed racial disparities in the capital city of 240,000, nearly 90 religious leaders wrote in an open letter released Friday.

“Tony’s death has laid bare the truth that our social contract does not provide the same benefit for all members of our community; and that our policies, practices, and attitudes stack the deck against and criminalize black and brown skinned members of our community at an alarmingly disparate rate,” the letter said.

Members of the local school and county boards and the City Council said in a separate letter released Friday that the community “must do better” at ending “shameful” racial disparities.

Attorney general Brad Schimel has declined to go into any details about the shooting, saying releasing information in bits has caused turmoil in other racially charged officer-involved shootings in the US over the last year. The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating the shooting under a state law that requires an outside agency to look into any fatal police shootings.

Schimel has said he hopes to have the bulk of that investigation done and submitted to the local district attorney in two weeks.

Division administrator Dave Matthews asked people to be patient, stressing that the investigation was massive. Authorities have said they are looking at what every witness was doing in the hours leading up the shooting.

Kenny was not wearing a body camera, but agents are examining video recordings from squad cars that arrived after the shooting and from devices people were carrying, he said. Matthews called the time it will take to review all the recordings “daunting”.

A memorial for Robinson with flowers and written messages has been set up at the shooting scene. Saturday’s visitation and funeral was scheduled be held in a high-school field house, in order to accommodate a large crowd.