It has been two weeks since a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Casey Christopher Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old Black man, as he walked into his north Columbus, Ohio home.

In the days since, national fervor has grown over Goodson’s death, several conflicting accounts have emerged publicly, rallies and protests have stepped off, and at least one law enforcement official has walked back his initial comments about the Dec. 4 shooting.

One thing has not happened in that span. Jason Meade, the officer who squeezed the trigger to fire the shots that killed Goodson, has yet to be questioned by investigators.

The Columbus Dispatch broke the news Wednesday that Meade had not been interviewed.

The 17-year Franklin County Sheriff’s Office veteran remains on paid administrative leave, the newspaper reported. It’s not clear when he will give an official statement to investigators.

There are indications what Meade will say when he finally does sit down with investigators. Mark Collins, the deputy’s Columbus attorney, issued a statement Dec. 10, claiming Meade fired after Goodson pointed his gun at the deputy.

“At no time did deputy Meade mistake a sandwich for a gun,” Collins said. “Mr. Goodson pointed his gun at deputy Meade. There has been confirmation that our client gave verbal commands for Mr. Goodson to drop the gun.”

Attorneys representing Goodson’s family issued a statement to counter that claim, saying Meade’s story did not align with previous reports from authorities immediately after the shooting.

“Despite what Jason Meade now claims were the circumstances surrounding this shooting, the public should not forget that neither the city of Columbus nor any other investigatory agency has alleged that Casey Goodson pointed a gun before Meade pulled the trigger,” read the statement from the Watson + Brown law firm. “With Meade’s statement issued nearly one week after he killed Casey, it is critical to note that this is a classic defense often claimed by police after they shoot and kill someone. It is also critical to remember that often the evidence does not support these claims.”

Meade, a SWAT Team deputy, was assigned to a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force that was searching for violent suspects near Goodson’s home the afternoon of Dec. 4. As they were wrapping up for the day, Meade claimed he saw Goodson driving by waving a gun and followed him to his home, according to federal marshals.

Goodson was licensed to carry a concealed weapon and was not the target of the U.S. Marshals fugitive manhunt.

Authorities claim Goodson brandished a gun. But family members said he was carrying keys, a face mask and Subway sandwiches in his hands when Meade opened fire as he unlocked the door to his family’s home.

Franklin County Corner Dr. Anahi M. Ortiz announced on Dec. 10 that she ruled Goodson’s death a homicide.

Peter Tobin, head of the U.S. Marshals’ Southern District of Ohio, told reporters the shooting appeared to be “justified” on the day of the incident. Tobin issued a statement this week calling that initial assessment “premature.”

“I previously provided commentary after arriving at the scene of the incident and made statements based on insufficient information that I received prior to the beginning of the official investigation into the shooting incident,” Tobin said. “It was premature for me to provide any opinion, conclusion, or other information about the facts of the incident. Other law enforcement agencies are engaged in an independent, thorough investigation of this incident.”

Peter Tobin, United States Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio (Photo: U.S. Marshals Service)

Tobin went on to say Meade was no longer acting in his capacity with the U.S. Marshals Service when he pursued Goodson, because the task force had stopped working for the day, The Associated Press reported

“The officer was acting on his own and in his independent authority as a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy within his home jurisdiction when he encountered Mr. Goodson, and throughout the subsequent incident leading to Mr. Goodson’s death,” the statement read.

Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin responded to Tobin’s backpedaling via a Dec. 12 video on the Sheriff’s Office’s Twitter page.

“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 U.S. Marshal during the recent shooting incident, I was more than surprised,” Baldwin said. “It’s been eight days. And if that was the correct decision eight days ago, I should have been informed. And at that point, I would have immediately contacted BCI [Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation] to conduct the investigation, because that’s our policy. I don’t know why it took eight days, but here we are.”

Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin responds to claims that Jason Meade, one of his deputies assigned to a U.S. Marshals task force, was acting in his capacity as a sheriff’s deputy when he shot and killed Casey Goodson on Dec. 4. (Video: Twitter/Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)

Meade, 42, had a history of violating use-of-force procedures during his career.

An investigation by local news outlet 6 On Your Side found the deputy received an oral reprimand in March 2019 for “violating rules and regulations for deploying his taser on a suspect and didn’t notify his supervision or communications about the use of force.”

Additional records showed Meade received less than satisfactory marks on his 2010 performance evaluation, where it was noted that he seems to be “content with only doing the bare minimum to get by.” A more recent evaluation noted he was “highly motivated.”

Collins noted that Meade was the only person who witnessed the shooting. No bodycam footage from the incident is available because Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies assigned to the task force aren’t outfitted with them.

On Wednesday, Franklin County Commissioners earmarked $2.5 million to fund bodycams for the Sheriff’s Office, according to the Midland Daily News. The board began talking about funding for the devices over the summer following the worldwide wave of protests in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. But the discussions picked up steam after Goodson’s homicide, the newspaper reported.

Goodson’s family is calling for murder charges to filed against Meade. The shooting is being investigated by the Columbus Division of Police’s Critical Incident and Response Team. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a concurrent federal civil rights investigation into Goodson’s death on Dec. 8.

Meade had not been charged as of Thursday, Dec. 17. Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan issued a statement Dec. 10 calling for patience from the community.

“We hear your questions. We hear your cries for more information and more answers. We hear your demands for justice,” it read. “The difficult reality is, very often in police work, information and answers are necessarily unavoidably slow to come. That is not in the interest of secrecy. It is in the interest of justice.”

“We understand the painful history evoked by the death of Casey Goodson,” Quinlan continued. “We take to heart, the demands from our community to do better, to be more transparent to be more accountable. We understand the trust gap borne of centuries of injustice against communities of color in our country. And yes, right here in our hometown. … But please understand – fast answers cannot take priority over complete answers. Information that answers the immediate questions of today has the potential to compromise a just outcome tomorrow.”