Police fatally shot a black teenager in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday night, prompting demonstrations in the city.



Madison’s police chief, Mike Koval, said at a press conference that an officer shot a 19-year-old, who he said was responsible for a recent battery, during an altercation.

After hearing a disturbance inside an apartment the man had gone into, an officer forced entry, Koval said. The officer was assaulted by the man and fired more than one shot in the altercation, Koval said.

“The officer did draw his revolver and subsequently shot the subject,” Koval said.

Koval said the officer who fired and other colleagues administered first aid to the victim, who died at a local hospital.

Police did not identify the victim, but friends and family of Tony Terrell Robinson Jr named him in the hours following the evening shooting.

Robinson’s aunt, Lorien Carter, told the Wisconsin State Journal that Robinson was “a beautiful young man” and “gentle”.

Michael Johnson, the Dane County Boys and Girls Club chief executive, said on Facebook the family had asked for peaceful protest and that Robinson’s mother requested “that her son not be dehumanized by local authorities”.

“He was a loving and caring young man according to his grandmother,” Johnson said in a Facebook post that showed Robinson smiling in a bright red graduation cap and gown.

Robinson graduated from Sun Prairie high school in 2014 and was set to attend Madison College, according to the post.

People chanted “Black lives matter” near the scene of the shooting on Williamson Street, then walked to City County Building and held a sit-in.

The demonstration included organizers of Madison’s Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, who were holding a strategy session on Saturday morning in response to the shooting.

“Few details are currently known, but this police murder is in the same vein as what happened to Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York, and Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee,” the group said in a Facebook post. “Given the racial disparities in Madison, we have known our city is no different.”

Crowd is praying for Tony Robinson pic.twitter.com/TdNDVydbPx — Andrew Hahn (@ndrewhahn) March 7, 2015

Wisconsin’s department of justice’s division of criminal investigation is looking into the incident. Because of a state law adopted in April 2014, an outside organization will also investigate the shooting.

Chris Taylor, a state representative who helped push the law forward, said in a Facebook post she witnessed the shooting while pulling into a gas station across the street.

“It is an unspeakable tragedy,” Taylor said. “I’m heartbroken for everyone involved and for my community.”

This week, the US Department of Justice cleared Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson of federal charges for fatally shooting unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown in August 2014. That incident sparked months of protests and renewed a national debate about race and policing.