Media reports said Atkinson, 48, whose former clubs included Aston Villa and Spain’s Real Sociedad, was the dead man.
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West Mercia Police said its officers deployed a taser while responding to a call about an incident at the address around 1:30 am local time on Monday.
A 48-year-old man had died after receiving medical attention, police said.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the incident.
During a 16-year career, the striker played for Aston Villa, Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday.
Aston Villa will pay tribute to Atkinson during their second-tier English Championship match at home to Huddersfield on Tuesday.
“Those were him holding up the League Cup trophy on the pitch at Wembley after our 1994 win and being serenaded after his Goal of the Season effort at Wimbledon in 1992”. He scored 10 goals in 21 league games for Istanbul- based Fenerbahce after leaving Villa.
The statement noted Atkinson’s status as a fan favorite at the heart of some of the club’s golden moments.
Hirst played alongside Atkinson up front for the Owls in the top flight during the 1989-90 season before the club were relegated.
“Terribly sad news about our former striker”.
“My thoughts are with Mr Atkinson’s family and friends, and all those affected, at this hard time”.
Police were called to the scene and when Atkinson emerged from the house, he was tasered and shouted: “It’s not working”.
Former England global Sol Campbell also expressed his shock.
Atkinson suffered from kidney problems and had a bad heart. “My thoughts are with his family & friends”.
Darren Byfield, a former Aston Villa player who now manages Redditch United FC, wrote: “What a legend”. The gesture would be a reference to one of Atkinson’s best-known goal celebrations, in which he and a teammate stood under an umbrella.
But the club will not allow them to bring in their own due to health and safety issues.
Using barbed wires fired at a suspect, the shock delivered by a Taser can be thousands of volts in strength and is meant to immobilise.
Activist coalition Black Lives Matter UK paid tribute to Atkinson on Twitter, and wrote that the case was a reminder that “UK police don’t need to regularly carry guns to regularly exercise lethal force”.
Atkinson’s death has also prompted fresh concern about policing and race and particularly the way police deal with black people with mental health conditions.
“Even when Taser use is not fatal, the delivery of a 50,000-volt shock for the purposes of incapacitation is a cruel and degrading form of punishment”. The ambulance service attended, but the man later died.
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In 2015, police’s use of tasers, which are meant to be used as a non-lethal weapon, went up slightly towards the end of the year with 10,329 uses by forces in both England and Wales, a two percent rise from the previous year. There should be a life-threatening incident before Tasers should be used.
