COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin responded to a statement from the U.S. Marshal’s Office that the deputy who fatally shot Casey Goodson, Jr. was not acting as part of the U.S. Marshal’s Office at the time of the shooting.
In a video released to Twitter Saturday afternoon, Baldwin said he was surprised by U.S. Marshal Peter Tobin’s statement.
“I would like to say that last night, when I read the statement about the U.S. Marshal Tobin now saying that Deputy Jason Meade was acting as a Franklin County deputy and not as a U.S. Marshal during the recent shooting incident, I was more than surprised,” Baldwin said in the video. “It’s been eight days. If that was the correct decision eight days ago, I should have been informed.”
On Friday afternoon, Tobin said in a statement that the operation Meade was working on as a member of the U.S. Marshal’s office had finished before the shooting occurred.
“At the time of the shooting, the officer involved in the shooting was not performing a mission for U.S. Marshals,” Tobin wrote in his statement. “U.S. Marshals were not pursuing Mr. Goodson, and U.S. Marshals were not at the scene or otherwise involved in the officer-involved shooting incident.”
Baldwin went on to add that if Meade was acting as a sheriff’s deputy, Baldwin would have contacted the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) to conduct an investigation at the scene.
On Monday, BCI turned down investigating the shooting because it said it was too late to do so since the investigation had already begun under the Columbus Police Department’s Critical Incident Response Team.
“We received a referral to take a three day old officer-involved shooting case,” Ohio Attorney General Press Secretary Steve Irwin said. “Not knowing all the reasons as to why so much time has passed before the case was referred to BCI, we cannot accept this case.”
In addition to the Columbus Police investigation, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are conducting a civil rights violation investigation.
In his video, Baldwin said the sheriff’s office is not involved in the investigation.
“We are remaining away from that so it will be a true investigation,” he said.
Goodson was shot by Meade as Goodson returned to his home on the afternoon of Dec. 4. Attorneys for Meade said Goodson had a gun, while Goodson’s family claims he was carrying sandwiches.
Two large demonstrations calling for justice for Goodson have been staged in downtown Columbus in the time since the shooting.
In his video, Baldwin praised Goodson’s mother, Tamala Payne, for her calls of peace during a demonstration Friday night.
“I would like to begin by thanking the mother of Casey Goodson for her pleas for peace during the recent protest and demonstration because people listen and as they should, and for that, I’m very grateful,” Baldwin said.