MADISON, Wis. — The attorney for the family of a man killed this week by police said Friday that the officer who fired the fatal shots should be charged with a crime.
An officer on Wednesday shot Corey Ruiz as he and other officers struggled with him, according to police. Police said Ruiz pulled out a knife during the tussle, but bystander video posted online appeared to show the officer firing shots after Ruiz was already being held on the ground.
Ruiz’s mother, daughter and siblings said at Friday’s news conference that they were brokenhearted and wanted justice.
“He did not deserve to be taken out like that,” said Ruiz’s mother, Elsa Ruiz, who sobbed during much of the news conference. “They took my baby from me.”
His 13-year-old daughter, Kah’Liyah Aliomar, said she wished she could talk to her father one last time.
“My heart was broken, and it just hurt so much knowing I can’t see my father anymore,” she said.
Her mother, Marjorie Aliomar, said that when Kah’Liyah goes to school she “will have to walk past the site where he was murdered by people that we’re supposed to trust.”
The family’s attorney, Ben Crump, and family members called for Madison’s police officers to begin wearing body cameras. They don’t routinely wear them now, but city officials have said they hope to deploy them next year.
“We saw an execution, and it shocked our conscience,” Crump said.
Asked if he believed the officer who fired the shots should be criminally charged, Crump said, “The way he shot him repeatedly — yes.”
Police have not named the officer but said he is an 11-year veteran.
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