The friends of a 30-year-old man who a Madison police officer shot and killed Nov. 9 plan to present a petition to the Madison Police Department chief to remove the officer from street patrol.

Paul Heenan, the man who was killed, was intoxicated and attempted to return to his Williamson Street area home, but accidentally entered a neighboring home. The home’s residents mistook Heenan for a burglar and called the police.

Madison Police officer Stephen Heimsness arrived with his partner and shot Heenan three times, ultimately killing him. Heimsness said he acted in self-defense after Heenan lunged for the officer’s gun.

Nathan Royko Maurer, who was a close friend and roommate of Heenan, created and circulated the petition along with Amelia Royko Maurer.

The goal of the petition is to keep Heimsness off the street, Nathan Royko Maurer said. The petition has received over 107,000 signatures from people ranging from the local Madison community to across the nation.

The Royko Maurers have had to cancel two plans to bring the petition to MPD Chief Noble Wray because Wray has been out of the office recently due to a family emergency, Nathan Rokyo Maurer said. 

The community will remember the life of Heenan at a candlelight vigil Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. at Madison’s City County Building, Nathan Royko Maurer said. Quotes from the petition will be projected onto the side of the building, he said.

The Royko Maurer family said in a statement the incident has only taught people to be afraid of the police. The statement said Heimsness gave Heenan no warning and he had only seconds to prevent his death. 

According to Nathan Royko Maurer, MPD said Heimsness took the correct actions when he shot Heenan. Heimsness is currently on paid administrative leave and Wray has said he will not allow Heenan to work in the area where the incident occurred, he said. 

He said the neighbor who called the police, Kevin O’Malley, said he was selectively quoted and misquoted in the official eyewitness testimony.

“It makes us feel something is not being done
right,” he said.

He said advocates for Heenan want an independent investigation of the shooting. MPD conducted the bulk of the original investigation, which he said is unfair because MPD was not impartial while investigating their coworker, and they did not practice justice.

He said they are now trying to file a complaint against the incident with a quasi-judicial court and are searching for a lawyer to represent them pro bono.

“We will continue to keep the pressure up,” he said. “If we fade out, their efforts will fade out too.”