Police use-of-force cases continue to draw national scrutiny, especially when video emerges before investigators release full findings. In Madison, Wisconsin, that scrutiny has centered on the July 22 police shooting of 38-year-old Corey Ruiz at Williamson and South Baldwin streets. The case has become both a state investigation and a local debate over police tactics, oversight, and the daily impact on one family living nearby.
Madison police shot Corey Ruiz after a Taser attempt, with state investigators now reviewing the killing
Madison police said officers were dispatched to the Marquette neighborhood on July 22, 2026, after reports of someone stealing bicycles and checking vehicle doors, according to the department’s incident report. Police said officers re-encountered Ruiz at Williamson and South Baldwin streets around 1:35 p.m., where he either fell or was pulled from a bicycle and a struggle followed. The department stated that Ruiz pulled a fixed-blade knife during that struggle, injured one officer, and that a Taser was used but was unsuccessful before the injured officer fired his gun.
The Madison Police Department confirmed that only one of four officers at the scene fired a weapon, and all officers involved were placed on administrative leave after the shooting. The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is handling the outside review because the shooting involved Madison officers, and AP reported on August 11 that the officer who fired was Kiel Baitinger-Peterson, a white officer with nearly 11 years of law-enforcement experience.
Video reviewed by ABC News showed the confrontation lasted about 28 seconds from the time Ruiz fell from the bicycle to the shooting. ABC’s analysis found that one officer warned Ruiz had a knife, officers then appeared to deploy Tasers, and Ruiz was shot three times at close range seconds later. Madison Alder John Duncan wrote the day after the shooting that one officer attempted to use a Taser, that it was unsuccessful according to Police Chief John Patterson, and that Ruiz was shot three times at point-blank range…