Federal and local law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin are investigating.
The death of a man from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, who suffered from a “known” mental illness, which authorities said said he was holding two knives, could have been prevented, his family says.
When a police officer, who was employed at the Sheboygan Police Department for almost three years, responded to a riot call around 6 a.m.Thursday between a man and a woman, authorities said “it ended with loss of life. ”
Police have not identified the man, but the family told ABC News affiliate WISN that the shooting victim was Kevin Ruffin. His uncle Aaron Clayborn told WISN that his nephew suffers from mental illness and that city officials “are familiar with him.”
“He has been known in this community for several years for having a mental disorder. He has been in and out of the system. He has been in mental health centers in the state,” Clayborn said Thursday.
Police did not respond to further requests for comment.
While it is unclear whether the unidentified response officer was aware of Ruffin’s history with the police, police said there was an attempt to strike up a conversation with the man before they were shot.
Sheboygan Police Chief Christopher Domagalski said Ruffin allegedly “accused the officer of two dangerous weapons,” the officer showed his stun gun while “backing up.”
Law enforcement officials did not say whether weapons were recovered from the scene.
“The officer ordered the subject to stop while attempting to retreat while attempting to deploy his Taser. The subject continued to chase the officer, forcing him to transition to his firearm, and unloaded his firearm on the subject,” Domnagalski said in a Press conference. Thursday.
The 23-year-old man was pronounced dead on the scene and the responding officer was placed on administrative leave by department policy, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Criminal Investigation Division said in a press release.
Ruffin’s cousin Sheriyah Appleton questioned the training the officer received on how to handle people with mental health problems, especially someone who is of color.
“It is not someone who is mentally ill with their weapons drawn, this is not the way things are done,” Appleton told ABC News affiliate WISN.
Appleton says the officer’s actions with his cousin, who is black, is “why everyone is restless.”
Protests have been unleashed worldwide after the death of George Floyd, involved by the police, who was captured on a spectator’s cell phone. Floyd’s murder resulted in the arrest of four former Minneapolis police officers and started a wave of proposed police reforms across the country and the world.
“We are a threat because of the color of our skin. Now, if he had had to be white with mental problems, he would have been arrested and not taken to the morgue. It is a completely different story due to the color of our skin,” Appleton said.
State and federal agencies are conducting an investigation into the Wisconsin shooting.
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