Justice For Casey Goodson – Who Is Casey Goodson ?
Casey Goodson Jr., 23, was at his front door— reportedly with his key in the door’s lock—when he was killed.
USA – In a statement released Dec. 6 on social media, the Columbus Police Department claimed that the deputy responsible, who they identified as James Meade, saw a man believed to be Goodson with a gun while driving. This led to Meade approaching Goodson after he exited his car and walked towards his home, where he was shot. Multiple members of Goodson’s family were inside the home at the time.
Meade was working in the area with the U.S. Marshals as part of a fugitive task force. But Goodson was not a target of the task force, and has no criminal history according to family attorney, Sean Walton.
The CPD’s statement added that there were “reports of a verbal exchange”—though, having noted that no other officers were at the scene, and no civilians witnessed the shooting, it is not clear who made such reports—and that a gun was recovered from the scene.
A 17-year veteran FCSO Deputy assigned full time to the US Marshal Task Force was involved in the deadly shooting of a 23-year old man Friday afternoon. The US Marshal’s Office says the suspect’s weapon was recovered at the scene. The shooting remains under investigation pic.twitter.com/pnH0xZrogM
— Franklin County Sheriff’s Office (@OHFCSO) December 5, 2020
Peter Tobin, U.S. marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, said that Goodson was brandishing a weapon and then things took a turn for the worst.
“He was seen driving down the street waving a gun, and that’s when the deputy, at some point after that, he confronted him and it went badly,” Tobin said at a Friday news conference, NPR member station WOSU reports.
The station adds that authorities provided few details about the encounter or what triggered Meade’s use of deadly force. The sheriff’s office said deputies do not wear body cameras. Investigators said no other law enforcement officers witnessed the shooting.
Justice For Casey Goodson – Who Is Casey Goodson ?
“A gun was recovered from Mr. Goodson,” according to a statement from the Columbus police. A tweet by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said, “the suspect’s weapon was recovered at the scene.”
Activists and family members dispute details in law enforcement’s version of the story and point to it as another example of police resorting to unjustified deadly force against Black Americans.
“They are lying!” Kaylee Harper, who identified herself as Goodson’s sister, wrote in a Facebook post.
“My brother literally walked across the yard, walked into the back fence to get to the side door, had his subway [sandwich] and mask in one hand keys in the other, UNLOCKED AND OPENED THE DOOR and stepped in the house before” he was shot, Harper wrote.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents many families whose loved ones have been killed by police this year, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Walter Wallace and others, tweeted, “this must end.”
“This is Casey Goodson, a 23yo Black man from Ohio. On 12/4, an @OHFCSO deputy mistook Casey for a fugitive & fatally shot him 3x in the BACK. He was walking into his own home with a sandwich, NOT a gun. This shoot 1st, ask Qs later mentality MUST END! We demand #JusticeForCaseyGoodson !!”
Heather Johnson, a friend of the Goodson family, who also spoke with The Columbus Dispatch, said he had no criminal history and described him as a family man.
“Casey was 23 years old; he never had any type of crimes. He was good, he worked at the Gap, he loved his family,” Johnson told the paper. “He just enjoyed being a big brother and enjoyed being with his family — he loved them very much.”
The shooting comes as the U.S. is still grappling with long-simmering issues stemming from social inequities, systemic racism and aggressive police tactics used against communities of color. Those matters touched off months of nationwide protests following Floyd’s Memorial Day killing by Minneapolis police.
Justice For Casey Goodson – Who Is Casey Goodson ?
