Casey Christopher Goodson Jr.was returning home from a dental appointment on Nov. 4 in Ohio when he stopped by a Subway restaurant. He was carrying his takeout sandwich in his hands, his family said, when a veteran deputy of the Franklin County Sherriff’s Office SWAT team fatally shot the 23-year-old three times in the back.
A SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team is a law enforcement unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics.
There are conflicting reports about what happened to Goodson. His family and community activists say the Franklin County police are misrepresenting the incident.
“Casey was 23 years old, he never had any type of crimes. He was good, he worked at the Gap, he loved his family,” family friend Heather Johnson told The Columbus Dispatch on behalf of his family. “He just enjoyed being a big brother and enjoyed being with his family, he loved them very much.”
During a press conference, Peter Tobin, the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, said that a fugitive task force that included marshals and Franklin County Sheriff’s office SWAT members had finished an unsuccessful search for a suspect on Nov. 4 when a man drove by waving a handgun at a sheriff’s SWAT deputy.
Tobin said the SWAT deputy went to confront the man, who had already stepped out of his vehicle, then parked in front of a residence. The SWAT deputy told him to drop his gun, a command heard by at least one witness, according to Tobin.
When the man failed to drop his weapon, Tobin said, the deputy shot him. The man, who was identified later as Goodson, was not the target of the original fugitive raid. Goodson was transported to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, where he later died.
A handgun was recovered, Tobin said, but he did not specify from where. Tobin added, he thought the shooting was “justified.”
Activists pointed out that Tobin’s narrative did not mention that Goodson was shot in the back or that he had a concealed-carry permit for the handgun.
“This was not justified,” family friend Johnson said of the shooting. “He didn’t pose a threat at all.”
Sean Walton, the family’s attorney, told The Dispatch that “no investigation has been conducted, to our knowledge.”
“They had not even began their investigation,” Walton said, “So at the beginning of an investigation to say it’s justified — well tell us why it’s justified because at that point, Casey was a law-abiding citizen entering his home after leaving an appointment with his dentist while carrying food.”
Walton said that Goodson’s death was witnessed by his 72-year-old grandmother and two toddlers who were near the door. Walton said Goodson was shot as he was entering his home. He had his Subway sandwich in his hands and was unlocking the door.
“Even hours after his death, the keys that he used to let himself in the house as he was shot and killed hung in the door – a reminder to his family of how close he was to safety,” according to the Walton and Brown Law Firm website.
The family doesn’t believe Goodson would’ve waved a gun at officers, as law enforcement claimed, Walton said.
“He was very safe and respectful when it came to guns. He was a licensed gun holder,” attorney Walton said. “That allegation does not line up with who Casey was, just because of the level of gun safety he tried to maintain.”
Sheriff’s office spokesman Marc Gofstein said the sheriff’s office does not have body cameras. Sheriff’s vehicles have dash-mounted cameras. Officials have not said if any neighborhood surveillance video exists.
Casey is not alleged to have committed any crimes, has no criminal background, and was not the target of any investigation, according to the Walton and Brown Law Firm website.
Goodson’s sister has organized an online fundraiser for her brother’s funeral costs on GoFundMe. It has exceeded its $9,000 goal and has reached more than $22,143.
“Justice for Casey, and all love and healing for his family. Black Lives Matter. It’s not a slogan, it is life and death,” one donor to the crowdfunding site posted in the comments section.
Kaylee Harper, who started the fundraiser, posted on her Facebook page that the police are lying.
“My brother literally walked across the yard, walked into the back fence to get to the side door, had his Subway (sandwich) and (COVID) mask in one hand keys in the other, unlocked and opened the door and stepped in the house before (police shot) him,” Harper wrote.
“If he was such a threat,” she wrote, “why did you wait so long to shoot?!”
She later posted a photo of her brother’s concealed-carry license.
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The sheriff’s office publicly identified the Franklin County SWAT deputy as Jason Meade, a 17-year veteran, according to a news release. Meade has been taken off duty and is awaiting an interview by the Columbus Division of Police Critical Incident and Response Team (CIRT), which is investigating the incident.
Authorities have said that an autopsy will be conducted this week.
SWAT teams were first created in the 1960s to control riots or violent confrontations with criminals. The use of SWAT teams increased in the 1980s and ’90s during the War on Drugs. By 2005, SWAT teams were used 50,000 times a year, almost 80-percent of the time to serve search warrants, usually for drugs. SWAT teams are increasingly equipped with military-type hardware and trained for situations beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement, sometimes deemed “high-risk”.
SWAT units are often equipped with automatic and specialized firearms including submachine guns, assault rifles, riot shotguns, sniper rifles, tear gas, smoke, and stun grenades. They may use heavy body armor, ballistic shields, entry tools, armored vehicles, thermal and night vision devices, and motion detectors to determine the position of hostages or hostage takers, inside enclosed structures.
