Law enforcement officials are remaining mum about the details of a shooting last Thursday.
The individual, identified as Quadren Wilson, was shot multiple times. But other details are scarce, as officials have not identified the officers responsible for shooting Wilson or even the law enforcement departments involved.
Today, a wall of silence from law enforcement still surrounded the incident, with Wilson’s family trying to piece together information on his condition and situation surrounding the shooting.
The only alleged legal violation against Wilson that has appeared so far is a violation of extended supervision.
Yesterday, a protest was held at the State Capitol demanding answers, as several of Wilson’s family members called for justice.
Outlines of bodies were chalked into the sidewalk and sprayed with food coloring onto snow surrounding the Capitol grounds.
Quadren Wilson’s aunt, Sharon Irwin Henry, and his cousin, Lorien Carter, describe what they were still tentatively told about the incident, including their understanding that police officers did not announce themselves and were allegedly in unmarked vehicles.
“They got out of the car and immediately started shooting. They didn’t announce themselves,” say Henry and Carter.
Wilson’s lawyer, Steven Eisenberg, tells WORT that the identity of the officers — and even the department of the officers who fired the shots — remains a mystery.
“My understanding is that he was backed into by a police vehicle, smashing the front of his car; at the same time, another police vehicle smashed into the back of his car, sandwiching him between two police vehicles. A number of policemen got out those vehicles or came from somewhere else, told him to put his hands up, he was in the process of putting his hands up and cooperating, and then shots rang out,” says Eisenberg.
Eisenberg says he has heard, but cannot confirm, anywhere between five to twenty bullets were fired.
“Five bullets, I’m told, struck Mr. Wilson. Three of which, at least, had to be surgically removed from an area dangerously close to his spinal cord.”
It’s unclear which law enforcement departments were involved in the shooting. Eisenberg says the Madison Police Department and Dane County Sheriff’s Office have denied their officers pulled the trigger, which could suggest the responsible department could be Department of Criminal Investigation.
Mane Morris, Wilson’s brother, tells WORT the family has been denied even basic information about Wilson’s condition.
“What we know is that he’s alive. We don’t know if he needs ongoing surgeries… We don’t know if he’s in any other health conditions… He has rights, and we as his family have rights to know how he’s doing,” says Morris.
The family says Wilson’s mother, Stacy Morris, received an anonymous call from a hospital staffer telling the mother that Quadren has shown some movement in his extremities. Then, late yesterday afternoon, after the protest at the capitol, Wilson was taken from his hospital bed while recovering from his emergency surgery and taken to Dane County Jail.
Attorney Eisenberg tells what he knows as of today.
“Sunday, he was released from the hospital and transferred to the Dane County Jail. Why is he in the Dane County Jail? I am trying to find that out as we speak.”
At yesterday’s protest, Madison activist Alexandra Wilburn, one of the organizers of the action, said that the community demands answers.
“It was an ambush. The Sheriff’s Department, which is conducting the investigation, should immediately release the names of the officers involved. Who fired the weapons? We deserve to know, and we need to know where they are in their investigation… We need everyone who hears this to demand this,” says Wilburn. ,
At regular sixth of the month protest on Willy Street yesterday commemorating the police killing of Tony Robinson, an additional name rang out among the crowd— that of Quadren Wilson.
