About 50 people gathered at the intersection of American Parkway and Eastpark Avenue on Madison’s east side Wednesday to demand answers, accountability and justice for the police shooting of Quadren Wilson on February 3.
The Dane County Sheriff’s office, which was not involved in the incident, is leading the investigation. In a press release Tuesday, the DCSO wrote, “Federal, state and local law enforcement were working collaboratively to arrest Quadren Wilson, age 38 of Beaver Dam, when shots were fired. Mr. Wilson was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries and he has since been released from the hospital.”
Wilson’s brother Mane Morris said Wilson has told him that a police officer yelled “gun” before the shooting started. Wilson’s family has maintained that Wilson was not armed.
Traffic camera video shows two police vehicles had pinned Wilson’s car between them.
“They ambushed my brother. They blocked my brother in,” Morris said. “They didn’t give him no chance to even think. They jumped out with their guns. They smashed his window out. Another police official yelled ‘gun.’ They began shooting my brother multiple times. He said he heard over 20 gunshots. He luckily was only shot five times in his back.”
Authorities have not confirmed how many shots were fired nor how many times Wilson was hit.
Morris said that Wilson remains in nearly unbearable pain.
“My brother is in pain. He called my mom in tears,” Morris said. “He said, they’re not changing his pads, they’re bloody. We don’t want him to get infection. He literally was calling my mom in tears. He just wants medical help. He’s not asking to be released. He just wants medical help.”
Morris said his family wants Wilson to be moved back to UW Hospital, but DCSO Captain Jan Tetzlaff said in an email to Madison365 that he was discharged by medical professionals and “Dane County Jail Medical Staff is tending to all of Mr. Wilson’s medical needs at the jail.”
Wilson’s mother attended the protest but declined to speak with reporters.
Calling the incident “an assassination attempt on another young Black man,” King Rick of The Original Black Panthers of Milwaukee said he wants more transparency from investigators.
“It amazes me that law enforcement has taken so much time to identify the police officers and put out the correct video,” he said. “What are you hiding, Dane County? What are you hiding, law enforcement.”
Madison365 has requested the dash cam video from all police vehicles involved in the incident, but the video has not been provided. Tetzlaff said in an email to Madison365 that she couldn’t provide any additional information while the investigation is ongoing.
A press release Tuesday said Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett “is committed to conducting an objective, methodical and transparent investigation.” DCSO has not yet scheduled a media briefing, but Tetzlaff said one would be scheduled, or a press release issued, when more information was available to be shared.
“We’re right here today to put you on notice,” King Rick said, addressing law enforcement. “We’re not asking you for anything. We’re demanding that you give justice. We’re demanding that this investigation is transparent. We are demanding that you stop hiding the facts to this.”
The DCSO release said Wilson is being held in the jail on a Department of Corrections hold, not on new charges. A DOC spokesman said the department issued an apprehension request after “receiving information from law enforcement that Mr. Wilson was alleged to have engaged in new criminal behavior in violation of his rules of Extended Supervision.”
Court records indicate the only open case against Wilson are misdeameanor charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a phone to make threats, filed in August and scheduled for a status conference February 16. Court records indicate Wilson’s attorneys were negotiating a plea bargain with prosecutors. Federal authorities would not be involved in a case of that nature, and federal court records do not currently show any federal charges against Wilson, so it remains unclear why federal and state police were involved in the arrest.
Wilson’s attorney, Steve Eisenberg, did not respond to a Madison365 call seeking comment, but has told other media outlets that he was not allowed access to his client for at least 48 hours after the arrest.
