COLUMBUS, Ohio — People who know Franklin County deputy Jason Meade, the man who fatally shot Casey Goodson Jr., are standing by him while Goodson's family is still demanding answers as to why their loved one was killed.
Meade shot and killed Casey Goodson Jr. on Dec. 4 after wrapping up an unrelated operation with the U.S. Marshal's Task Force in north Columbus.
The Columbus Division of Police Critical Incident Response Team is investigating the shooting and said Meade reported seeing a man with a gun.
Columbus police said Meade was investigating when there were "reports of a verbal exchange" and Meade fired at Goodson.
Goodson's family said Goodson was shot while he was walking into his home carrying food.
The Franklin County Coroner said Goodson was shot several times in the torso, and died from those injuries.
"Why…what he did he do to deserve this what did you do this for?” Goodson's mother Tamala Payne said through tears at a press conference last week.
Payne said her son "was killed and murdered cold-blooded in a violent manner for nothing. The man who did it, the coward who did it, refuses to even speak."
Pastor Bruce Copley, who has known the Meade family for decades, said, "It hurts me that people don't know him. It's evident people don't know him when they say that stuff,”
Meade, a 17-year veteran of the sheriff's office, is also a pastor at a church in Madison County.
“It's hard for me to believe he would do something that is so out of character that people would be questioning his integrity at this point,” said Dan Altier, who met Meade in 2003 and was a sergeant in Lima Company while serving with Meade in Iraq.
“Honorable man. We definitely faced some adversities overseas and had great composure and character in some of the most stressful times,” said Guy Zierk, who also served with Meade.
In 2005, Lima Company lost 23 men and more than 40 were wounded in the Iraq War.
Meade was one of the deputies who climbed on the rooftop to arrest Monica Justice in July. She is accused of shooting two Franklin County Sheriff's deputies. Meade is being given an accommodation from the sheriff's office for his work that day.
Those who know Meade say they understand the heartache for Goodson's family but ask for everyone to wait for judgment until the investigation is complete.
“It's a tough situation for everybody. It's a tragic situation for the family and for the gentleman that was killed, and for Jason and his family because now people are judging him,” Altier said.
The Columbus Division of Police, along with the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI, are investigating the fatal shooting. They are looking to see if there were any civil rights violations and if the shooting was justified.
Columbus police have not interviewed Meade yet for the investigation and Meade is currently on administrative leave.
Police are expected to present a preliminary case finding to the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office within 90 days of the shooting.
According to Meade's personnel file from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, he was one of seven deputies involved in a deadly shooting in Pike County in 2018. All deputies were cleared in that shooting.
In March 2019, he was given an oral reprimand for using his taser and not telling his supervisor.
In 2010, he was removed from the special investigations unit because "Detective Meade has never lived up to the potential he possesses to be a good investigator."
In his most recent evaluation, his file said he was given "meets, or above, expectations."