CRAZ: Protesters Blockade Wisconsin Street Where Felon Was Killed After Knifing Cop

 

Source: NeedToKnow.news

NBC, Andy Ngo, NY Post, CNN and Mercado Media 

Madison, Wisconsin: On July 22, 2026, police officers were responding to reports of someone stealing bicycles and checking vehicle doors when they chased Cory Ruiz, 38, and engaged in a struggle. Ruiz resisted arrest, pulled a knife, and reportedly injured an officer. An unidentified male officer shot him to death.

 

Ruiz has an extensive arrest record that showed that he was charged with multiple violent crimes that included eight convictions for resisting, obstructing, threatening or injuring police officers over two decades.

BLM and leftists protesters have occupied two trendy blocks in downtown Madison, turning them into a lawless zone and homeless encampment barricaded on all four sides with groups blocking local residences and businesses. Some protesters have already declared it the “Corey Ruiz Autonomous Zone” — or “CRAZ” — a nod to the lawless Seattle CHAZ or Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) in 2020.

The city of Madison, state capitol, is helping them by providing portable toilets and other resources. Alder Davy Mayer, a self-described activist, reported that the city was also bringing in salt trucks to replace the barriers the protesters threw together from stolen trash cans, wood palettes and nails.

 

Analysis of videos of the shooting:

In Wisconsin, resisting arrest is typically charged as a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 9 months in jail and a $10,000 fine. It becomes a felony if an officer is injured during the incident.

Journalist Andy Ngo wrote that Ruiz has at least 40 convictions for an array of violent crimes, including battery and robbery. He owes close to $50,000 in child support for his young child.

 

 

From NY Post:

Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters have blockaded two trendy blocks in downtown Madison, Wisconsin a week after armed serial felon Corey Ruiz was shot and killed by police — erecting barricades similar to the infamous 2020 “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ) in Seattle

And the city of Madison — home to the state capitol and the University of Wisconsin — is helping them by providing portable toilets and other resources.

Neighbors have had enough, telling WMTV 15 News they feel “trapped” by the rapidly expanding protest zone.

“I feel the protest has turned into a very disrespectful occupation focused on punishing Willy Street for the incident,” one local told the outlet on condition of anonymity.

“It is now a lawless zone and homeless encampment barricaded on all four sides with groups blocking local residences and businesses from surviving.”

Some protesters have already declared it the “Corey Ruiz Autonomous Zone” — or “CRAZ” — a nod to the lawless Seattle CHAZ or Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP).

Footage captured by local reporters shows the corner of South Baldwin Street and Williamson Street — known locally as Willy Street — typically a bustling, mixed-use thoroughfare in the heart of downtown, strewn with piles of trash and marred with graffiti.

The two-block section of Williamson Street near where the fatal July 22 shooting took place has been officially closed off, a large statue of the Black Lives Matter fist erected in the middle of the intersection surrounded by what appears to be a community garden.

Banners and signs reading “Justice for Corey” and “Say his name” could be seen draped over the fronts of local businesses, which include a bar, a beauty salon, a jewelry shop, and a handful of other small shops.

Journal Sentinel reporter Laura Schulte wrote on X that she’s heard the cordoned off area referred to as CRAZ, eerily similar to CHAZ, a violent takeover of city streets in Seattle protesting the murder of George Floyd.

CHAZ lasted more than three weeks in June and July 2020, which then-Mayor Jenny Durkin gaily called “a summer of love.”

That encampment was finally cleared by Seattle police after its fourth shooting, in which a 16-year-old was killed and a 14-year-old was left in critical condition.

As was seen with CHAZ, city leaders in Madison have fallen all over themselves to be accommodating, setting up portable toilets for the protesters holding sit-ins on shabby lawn chairs or milling about the desecrated city center.

Alder Davy Mayer, a self-described activist whose District 6 encompasses the area, told WMTV 15 News the city was also bringing in salt trucks to replace the barriers the protesters threw together from stolen trash cans, wood palettes and nails.

Asked how long the takeover will be allowed to continue to fester, Mayer refused to offer a definitive timeline.

“I don’t think the city wants to see a permanent takeover of this intersection,” Mayer said.

“But we also don’t want to see a violent clearing of it either. So it’s working with all these parties to find a resolution, which is difficult, which takes time.”

Mayer meekly acknowledged the local homeless population’s migration into CRAZ has caused “disruption.”

Ruiz’s caught-on-camera shooting has become a national flashpoint as local Black Lives Matter activists have seized on the killing, sparking protests that have roiled the state capital’s central business district on a nightly basis ever since.

Prison records show that Ruiz was Hispanic, and not black — though court records listed him as African-American.

He had recently been released from prison, and had knifed a cop moments before he was fatally shot, according to authorities.

Online court records show at least 25 criminal cases for Ruiz dating back to 2007, several of them related to violent encounters with police.

Read full article here…

From CNN:

 

Michael Rothman, who posted the CNN video, wrote:

“None of the officers on scene were wearing body cameras. The family has retained civil rights attorney 𝐁𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩, who calls it an “𝘶𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯” and disputes that the officer was even injured: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦.” All four officers are now on administrative leave pending a state investigation.

Here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud. A Madison Common Council member confirmed on camera that back in 2020, this same community 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲-𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬 in the name of 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦. Last November, a last-minute push by three alders to redirect roughly $400,000 toward the cameras also went nowhere. The rollout still isn’t scheduled until 2027. Madison is the largest city in Wisconsin that still doesn’t have them.

 

The activists who spent years arguing cameras on cops were the problem got their wish. Now there’s a dead man, a disputed s∗ooting, and not one second of body-camera footage to settle it either way. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰.

 


Cory Ruiz’s court records list him as ‘white’.  n