COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Casey Goodson Jr. in the back five times, and once in the butt, was charged Thursday with murder in an encounter that led to racial justice protests, yet is still largely unexplained and involved no body camera or dash cam footage.
Goodson was not the subject of the fugitive search. U.S. Marshal Peter Tobin initially said Meade, who has since retired, confronted Goodson after Goodson drove by and waved a gun at the deputy, but he later withdrew those comments, saying they’d been based on “insufficient information.”
Relatives say Goodson was opening the door to his grandmother’s house at the time he was shot. Officials said that a gun was recovered from the scene but have not provided further details. The family has said Goodson had a sandwich, not a gun, in his hand. But even if Goodson had been carrying a gun, the family has reiterated, he had a license to do so. The family planned a news conference Thursday.
✱Meade retired July 2 on disability. The deputy had been on administrative leave from the sheriff’s office since the shooting.
✱Goodson’s mother, Tamala Payne, and a family attorney said that Goodson was returning from the dentist with Subway sandwiches and was unlocking the door as he was shot, with his death witnessed by his 72-year-old grandmother and two toddlers who were near the door.
✱Officials said that a gun was recovered from the scene but have not provided further details.
✱The death of Goodson, 23, was the first in a series of fatal shootings by law enforcement officers against Black people in the Columbus area — also including Andre’ Hill and Ma’Khia Bryant — that sparked protests around the city.
