Protest disrupts fatal police shooting press conference

[0:00] You're watching live now. I'm Austin Westfall. If you were watching us a little bit earlier in the [0:04] day, you know that we were taking this news conference live. It was happening in Madison, [0:08] Wisconsin, having to do with a Madison police officer shooting and killing a man on Wednesday. [0:15] Public officials and others have identified the man as Corey Ruiz, Madison's police chief, [0:20] said the shooting is being investigated as a homicide. Let's check in with Fox 6's Sam [0:26] Kramer. He's out at a vigil right now. Sam, what are you seeing and hearing out there? [0:35] I'm also good to be with you. So we are right at the intersection of Williamson and Baldwin, [0:40] the very intersection where that shooting happened. And for so many people where you're [0:44] seeing the video of this shooting unfolding is really just behind us. What has happened in the [0:50] hours since that shooting is that people outraged at what happened, at the video, at the fact that [0:57] Madison police have again shot and killed somebody here. 11 years ago, another man was actually [1:03] shot and killed just a block away. So it's reopening wounds in this community for those that feel [1:10] that black people or other people of color are being preyed upon in situations by the police. [1:16] Today, since 5 o'clock, this vigil has been going on. Members of Corey Ruiz's family have been here [1:24] understandably shaken and just really emotionally hurt to see even the showing of support knowing that [1:33] Ruiz died in that shooting yesterday. What has stood out in this vigil is, one, the energy. There are [1:40] hundreds of people here to slowly growed over the 5 to 6 o'clock hour local time. The amount of people [1:47] here is probably mellowed out. But there's a lot of energy of people that want change and accountability. [1:53] And so what does that look like? First, they say that they are going to occupy this intersection [1:57] until the officer that opened fire that shot Ruiz three times with his service weapon is actually [2:05] arrested. We don't know if or when that would happen. Two, they are demanding the Madison Police [2:10] Department has body cameras. The fact that they do not, this is one of the biggest agencies, [2:16] likely top 10 in the state of Wisconsin, that does not have those body cameras. The chief and the mayor [2:22] have both mentioned that it is included in their budget request, but it is on the Common Council [2:26] to approve that. And third, they just want more independent oversight. There's an office of an [2:33] independent monitor here in Dane County. Several people say they want that office to be fully [2:39] funded so that when incidents like this happen, they can have a true third party investigating it [2:44] because right now the State Division of Criminal Investigation, which is a sub-branch of the State [2:49] Department of Justice, is now leading up this investigation. Awesome. So Sam, people who were [2:55] watching live now a couple hours ago, they were watching and we happened to be taking the news [3:01] conference about this incident live. We were airing it while it was happening. And then we saw this [3:07] situation where it appeared that a demonstrator kind of hijacked the press conference, if you will. [3:15] We saw the police there at the microphone giving some remarks. And then we saw this man with a bullhorn [3:21] grab the mic and then he began talking at length himself. What do we know about what happened? [3:26] Yeah, definitely a bit of a takeover, right? And I think what happened there is perhaps the best [3:37] illustration for people that aren't in this community over the last 24 or 48 hours. That's the [3:45] best visualization of the frustration that you can sense actually from people that live here, [3:50] that work here, that see that video and feel something in their hearts. Yeah, that man, [3:56] I actually have seen him over the last half hour or hour. He is still around here. But they wanting [4:01] to deliver the point that they won't accept the status quo. They're not going to continue to allow [4:07] these situations to happen. And process wise, we know what's going to happen. The State Division [4:13] of Criminal Investigation is investigating that. As you mentioned, as an open homicide investigation, [4:18] they will make the determination if that officer was justified in the use of force. [4:23] And the biggest component to that that they are going to consider is that Ruiz had a fixed blade knife [4:29] on him and actually injured, according to police, one of the officers. In fact, [4:34] the officer that fired his weapon. So there has been a lot of frustration, a lot of energy into that [4:41] frustration. People were out here last night. They protested. They took over some outdoor concert [4:48] that was happening nearby just to drive home the point that they cannot continue on in the short span [4:55] attention cycles that so many of us are kind of stuck to. They really want to, again, deliver the [5:02] point that this isn't OK. Sam Kramer with us. We appreciate the in-depth reporting. Stay safe out [5:09] there. Thank you. Appreciate it. So we'll check in more on that story, especially as perhaps we'll hear [5:20] more from the police. Perhaps we will hear more from officials in the area. Perhaps we'll hear more [5:26] from Fox 6 about this demonstration that's been taking place out there. We'll keep an eye on this [5:33] demonstration. We'll see if it perhaps grows as the day turns to night there in Madison. [5:44] So