Madison, WI (August 11, 2026) – The family of Corey Ruiz, together with nationally renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), announce funeral services for Corey Durell Ruiz, the 38-year-old father who was shot and killed by a Madison Police Department officer on July 22, 2026. Family, friends, and community members will gather to celebrate Corey’s life and honor his memory. Rev. Sharpton will deliver the eulogy, and Attorney Crump will deliver the Call to Justice.
BACKGROUND
Corey Durell Ruiz, 38, was a father and a member of the Madison community who was experiencing homelessness at the time of his death. On Wednesday, July 22, 2026, shortly before 1:00 p.m., Madison Police Department officers attempted to arrest Ruiz at the intersection of Williamson Street and South Baldwin Street in the city’s Marquette neighborhood. According to the Madison Police Department, Ruiz was shot during a struggle with four officers. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Cellphone footage recorded by witnesses circulated widely in the hours that followed, and hundreds of residents gathered at the scene that evening before marching to the Wisconsin State Capitol. The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the shooting. Madison remains one of the few major Wisconsin cities whose police officers do not wear body cameras, and no body-camera footage of the shooting exists.
Corey’s death occurred just blocks from where a Madison police officer fatally shot Tony Robinson, an unarmed 19-year-old, in 2015, a case that ended without charges, and near the site where officers fatally shot Paul Heenan in 2012. For many in Madison, this shooting has reopened wounds that never fully healed, community members are calling for a thorough, transparent, and independent investigation.
The family has retained nationally renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump, whose team is conducting an independent review and pressing for the release of all records, witness accounts, and investigative findings. The National Action Network stands with the Ruiz family as part of its longstanding mission to ensure that the deaths of Black men at the hands of law enforcement receive rigorous, transparent investigation, and that grieving families never have to stand alone in their search for the truth.
WHO
Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder & President, National Action Network, and Attorney Ben Crump, Civil Rights Attorney
The Family of Corey Ruiz
WHAT
Funeral service celebrating the life of Corey Ruiz.
WHERE
Fountain of Life Church
633 W. Badger Road
Madison, WI 53713
For more information, visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net
For more information, visit www.bencrump.com
