COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio sheriff’s deputy who shot Casey Goodson Jr. in the back five times, killing him, 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 dashcam footage.
The fatal shooting of Goodson took place in Columbus on Dec. 4, 2020, while Jason Meade, a white 17-year member of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, was finishing an unsuccessful search for a fugitive as part of his work for a U.S. Marshals Service task force.
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.”
Tobin also said Meade was “not performing a mission” for the marshals at the time of the shooting.
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 Franklin County coroner said in March that Goodson had been shot five times in the back.
A judge scheduled an initial hearing Friday for Meade. A message was left seeking comment from Meade’s attorney, who has previously said the coroner’s report has no bearing on what actually happened that day.
The case remains under criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with help from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Although the shooting did not involve Columbus police, it came at a time of heightened tension over previous shootings of Black people by officers in Ohio’s capital, a situation made worse less than three weeks later when a white Columbus police officer shot and killed 47-year-old Andre Hill as he emerged from a garage holding a cellphone.
That officer, Adam Coy, who was subsequently fired, has pleaded not guilty to murder and is scheduled for trial next year.
Large protests followed Goodson’s shooting, with people shouting “Justice for Casey” as they blocked downtown streets.
Meade retired July 2 on disability. The deputy had been on administrative leave from the Sheriff’s Office since the shooting.
Sheriff Dallas Baldwin had previously said that the autopsy did not “provide all of the facts needed,” and that he will wait until the criminal investigation is complete before pursuing any disciplinary action against Meade.
Baldwin said Thursday that he has asked his staff to review the investigation when possible, to see what the agency can learn.
“This office has a professional obligation to do everything in its power to ensure the community and our deputies are kept safe,” he said in a statement. “As I’ve said from the very beginning, I pray for everyone involved in this tragedy.”
In June, Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack appointed two outside prosecutors to investigate, since the county prosecutor’s office serves as legal counsel to the Sheriff’s Office and anticipates having to defend the county and the law enforcement agency in this case.
