Another unarmed black teenager has been shot dead by a white police officer, sparking a new wave of protests in the United States.
Tony Robinson Jr, 19, was shot in Madison, capital of Wisconsin state, on Friday evening when police responded to calls that a man was dodging cars in traffic and had beaten up another person.
Officer Matt Kenny said he followed the suspect into an apartment, where he was hit on the head. In return he shot the unarmed teenager, who died in hospital.
Police Chief Mike Koval said: “There’s no doubt about the fact that we have to be clear about this. I want to be very transparent: he was unarmed.”
Robinson pleaded guilty to armed robbery in October and was sentenced to six months’ jail. Execution of the custodial term was stayed and he began a three-year probation period in December.
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His death, the latest in a series of cases of black men being killed by police officers, has highlighted concerns of racial bias in US law enforcement.
Demonstrators marched over the weekend, chanting “black lives matter”, from the State Capitol building to the area where Robinson was shot.
Last year the deaths of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City triggered a nationwide wave of demonstrations against excessive use of force by law enforcement.
Officer Kenny is on paid administrative leave while the Wisconsin Department of Justice conducts an investigation instead of local authorities, as mandated under a law enacted in 2004.
In a statement on the city’s website, Paul Soglin, the maoyr of Madison, called the shooting “a tragedy beyond description” and said that the city will be “open and transparent” in communicating the results of an investigation into the shooting.
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Officer Kenny, who has served 12 years with Madison police, was exonerated in a police shooting in 2007 and even earned a commendation in the incident, Chief Koval said.
“The circumstances of that case were concluded to be a suicide-by-cop sort of predilection,” he added.
According to media reports, a 48-year-old man in that instance was shot to death after he pointed a gun at officers and refused to drop his weapon. It was later found to be a replica .38-calibre handgun.