Hundreds expected for funeral of 19-year-old man fatally shot by police

Hundreds of mourners in Madison, Wisc., were expected to attend a visitation and funeral Saturday for a biracial man shot and killed by a white police officer last Friday

A preliminary autopsy released Friday by the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that unarmed Tony Terrell Robinson Jr., 19, was shot in the head, torso and upper body by a Madison police officer identified as Matt Kenny on March 6 following a confrontation with police.

Kenny has since been placed on administrative leave.

MADISON, WI - MARCH 09: A family member holds a picture of Tony Robinson during a  protest outside of the City Hall building on March 9, 2015 in Madison, Wisconsin. The protestors were angry about the shooting of the 19-year-old Robinson, who was killed by Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny during a confrontation on March 6. The demonstrators also marched through the State Capital building during today's protest.  (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A family member holds a picture of Tony Robinson during a protest outside of the City Hall building on March 9, 2015 in Madison, Wisconsin. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The shooting ignited days of peaceful protests in Madison, where African-Americans make up only seven percent of the city’s population of 240,000, the Associated Press reported.

Due to a new Wisconsin law requiring an outside agency look into fatal police shootings, Wisconsin’s Division of Criminal Investigation has stepped in and continues to investigate the shooting alongside the Madison Police Department and the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to the AP.

“My son was a wonderful child, he was a wonderful man, and and he would be in awe of this,” Robinson’s mother Andrea Irwin said to demonstrators at a Wednesday rally. “All of you have been been peaceful, I appreciate that. My son was never a violent man, and I don’t want violence done in his name. I don’t want anger. I want to be able to make a change, I don’t want my son to have died in vain. I want us to be able to make change and do it peacefully.”

On Monday, hundreds of students flooded the Wisconsin Capitol to protest the killing.

According to a program for the funeral to be held at Sun Prairie High School, statements from friends will be read along with Robinson’s obituary and a poem by his aunt.

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