Here Are the 17 People Who Were Fatally Shot by Wisconsin Police in 2016

WISCONSIN -- Police officers use their training and experience to protect the public - and sometimes themselves - from extreme harm.

Police officers in Wisconsin have shot and killed 17 Wisconsinites so far in 2016, according to an ongoing report that keeps track of all officer-involved shootings in the U.S. regardless of race, probable cause or circumstance.

The ongoing project is called "The Counted" and its records are maintained by the Guardian and media reports to count the number of people killed by police and other law enforcement agencies in the United States throughout 2015 and 2016, to monitor their demographics and to tell the stories of how they died.

In Wisconsin

According to the report, officers fatally shot ten people who were white, five who were black, and two had yet to be identified by ethnicity according to the report.

Wisconsin's 17 Officer-Involved Shooting Victims:

August 19 - James Quealey, 59, Beaver Dam
Quealy's friends called police after he allegedly told them he wanted to kill himself. Authorities responded to Quealy's home and attempted to negotiate with him. Police said Quealy was killed after firing a shot at police.

August 13 - Sylville Smith, 23, Milwaukee
Smith, who was allegedly armed with a gun, fled a traffic stop and was shot by an officer after ignoring the officer's commands to drop the gun, according to police. Authorities said officers initiated the traffic stop because two 'suspects' were traveling in the car. The shooting prompted unrest and violence throughout the city in the hours after the man was killed.

August 5 - Cole Knight, 31, New London
Knight was shot after producing an unidentified weapon when confronted by an officer during a street patrol, according to authorities.
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January 8 - Eric Olsen, Lake Geneva

Officers responded to the neighborhood after receiving reports of a man breaking a house's window with an ax, according to authorities. Police said they fatally shot Olsen when he charged at them with a knife.
February 24 - Christopher Davis, 21, East Troy
Authorities said Davis was killed when a sheriff's deputy opened fire on a car in a restaurant parking lot. The deputy approached the vehicle as part of a drugs investigation and said he opened fire when the driver drove toward police. Davis, a passenger in the car, was shot and killed. The driver drove away, prompting a chase that ended when the vehicle crashed. Two people inside the car fled on foot but were later arrested.
April 30 - Oswald Mattner, 42, Wausau
Mattner had threatened his girlfriend and attacked her, police said. Mattner grabbed a knife and tried to stab a neighbor before an officer shot him when he ignored commands to drop the weapon, according to a state investigation.
April 23 - Jakob Wagner, 18, Antigo
Police said Wagner shot and injured two high school students as they were leaving their school's prom. An officer already in the parking lot of the school then shot and killed Wagner, authorities said. Wagner was a former student at the high school and had previously tried to kill himself because he had recently broken up with his girlfriend, a state investigation found. Investigators found 45 additional rounds of ammunition in his pockets after he was shot.
April 8 - Melissa Abbott, 25, Lake Hallie
Abbott was shopping in a Walmart when she grabbed a hatchet from the sporting goods section and began swinging it around, police said. An officer shot her when she reportedly refused to drop the hatchet and lunged toward police. Authorities said Abbott had developmental disabilities and was shopping in the store with chaperones.
April 3 - David Mack, 69, Eau Claire
Mack was fatally shot by a deputy in a laundromat parking lot when he pulled out a 'Taser-like device' and put it up to the deputy's chest, according to authorities. The deputy had pulled Mack over after he made a wrong turn and discovering an oustanding warrant for his arrest in connection to a bank robbery.
May 5 - Burt Johnson, 38, Milwaukee
Johnson is believed to have robbed an auto parts store at gunpoint. Police killed him in an exchange of gunfire during a foot chase near the store, authorities said. One officer was also wounded.
June 30 - Michael Schumacher, 41, Madison
Schumacher allegedly broke into a house by throwing a rock through the window, causing the residents to flee. An officer fatally shot Schumacher as he left the house with a pitchfork and began 'agressing' toward the officer, officials said.
June 23 - Jay Anderson, 25, Milwaukee
An officer investigating a suspicious vehicle in a park shot Anderson, who was sitting inside, when he saw him with a gun. Authorities did not say whether Anderson pointed the gun at the officer or fired it.
June 13 - Michael Rasmussen, 38, Pembine
Rasmussen was allegedly armed with a gun and had been making threats to officers. Police said he approached them with the weapon and refused commands to put it down. According to 911 calls, Rassmussen was suicidal.

July 26 - Scot Minard, 50, Merrill
Minard was killed at the end of an hour-long standoff when he shot at police, according to local officials. Police said they began pursuing Minard after he fled a traffic stop, and that the pursuit ended when he left his car with a gun.
July 23 - Austin Howard, 49, Milwaukee
Howard allegedly stabbed a 64-year-old man to death, fled, and then returned to the scene and charged at officers with a knife, authorities said.
July 17 - Kevin Higgins, 37, Sheboygan
Higgins was reportedly trying to rob a bar at gunpoint when two officers shot and killed him, authorities said. A bar employee was injured by gunfire during the incident.
July 1 - Helmut Wihowski, Jackson
Police shot and killed Wihowski after responding to a 911 call, according to authorities.