RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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A 38-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by police in Madison, Wisconsin, will be laid to rest Friday. Corey Ruiz, 38, was fatally shot after he pulled out a knife in a struggle with four police officers last month, according to authorities. Bystander video of the incident went viral on social media, prompting a series of protests in the Midwestern city and drawing fresh scrutiny over the harsh police tactics used on the city’s people of color. The video of his death raised questions about why lethal force was used after Tasers were deployed. The funeral will be attended by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing Ruiz’s family, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who will be delivering the eulogy. It will take place at the Fountain of Life Church in Madison and be broadcast, according to Sharpton’s civil rights group, National Action Network. Madison police say that on July 22, officers approached Ruiz after receiving calls reporting that someone was stealing bicycles and checking vehicle doors. Authorities said that after initially fleeing, Ruiz pulled out a knife during a struggle with officers and injured one of them. Officers said they tried but failed to shock Ruiz with a Taser before shooting him. As of Friday, no arrests have been made in connection with Ruiz’s death. When asked about potential arrests, a spokesperson for the Madison Police Department said in an email that “the investigation remains with DCI at this time,” referring to the Wisconsin Justice Department’s Division of Criminal Investigation. “DCI will then turn things over to the District Attorney’s office who will make a charging decision,” the spokesperson, Officer Stephanie Fryer, said. The Division of Criminal Investigation did not immediately return a request for comment. Ruiz’s case was not the first high-profile killing of a Black man at the hands of a police officer in Madison. Tony Robinson was fatally shot by police in 2015, roughly a block and a half from where Ruiz was killed. And in 2012, Paul Heenan was killed by a police officer nearby. Wisconsin public records show that Ruiz was convicted of 40 misdemeanors and felonies from 2009 to 2025, including robbery by force and strangulation. Ruiz’s ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his teenage daughter, previously told NBC News that Ruiz struggled with mental health issues, but declined to provide specifics. She said he was killed blocks away from where his daughter lives. “She has to walk past his dying grounds and that memorial every day when she starts school,” she said. “Every day, she has to walk past that to get to school.”
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