IMPD identifies man fatally shot by officers on Northeastide
Some onlookers questioned whether lethal force was necessary and cursed at Indianapolis police officers. One officer's car window was smashed.
Indianapolis police officers were justified in their fatal shooting of a man armed with a large knife late Saturday morning on the city's Northeastside, a police spokesman said.
A group of at least four officers at the shooting scene in the 7900 block of Red Mill Drive employed a "progressive use of force," including verbal commands and less-than-lethal force, before shooting, said Lt. Richard Riddle, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, in a news conference at the scene.
But the suspect, later identified as Christopher Goodlow, 25, Indianapolis, continued to approach officers with the knife, despite being told to drop the weapon and to stop, Riddle said.
"Our officers were ultimately forced to use deadly force in the incident," he said. "Once the individual was on the ground, there was no additional use of force."
Riddle said the officers had responded to a call about a suicidal man who was bleeding and carrying a "butcher knife."
The fatal shooting caused an angry reaction from people in a crowd gathered at the scene, some of whom cursed at officers and questioned whether gunshots were an appropriate response to the threat of a knife. One of the people who was grieving yelled: "Over a knife? Oh my God."
Another person shouted: "He had a mental illness" — referring to Goodlow.
The incident occurred as fatal officer-involved shootings have become a national issue, most recently in Chicago with the release of a year-old video that contradicted official police reports of the incident. Indianapolis officials are considering having officers use body cameras, and state lawmakers are discussing legislation to regulate the use and public release of police body cam videos.
More than three hours after the Indianapolis incident, emotions flared up again. A windshield of a police car at the scene was smashed followed by a confrontation with officers.
Riddle said he saw the video of the incident made by a bystander, Steven Chambers, who posted it to his Facebook page. Riddle said the officers acted properly, and that a knife is considered by police to be a deadly weapon.
Riddle said there have been at least 20 officer-involved shootings by Indianapolis police this year, with "nine or 10 of them being fatal."
Saturday's shooting occurred before noon at the Autumn Trails apartment complex, located just north of the intersection of Franklin Road and East 38th Street.
Chambers' four-minute video shows the subject, clad only in boxer shorts, and surrounded by four officers. At one point in the video, the man walks toward one officer, then lunges at another before he is shot, apparently four times. He then falls to the ground.
Chambers said officers had used a Taser on the subject to try to control him before he was shot.
"They Tased him; they tried tackling him. They asked multiple times to put away the knife," Chambers said.
Chambers said he uploaded his video of the shooting to Facebook before his phone was confiscated by police.
An autopsy also will be performed by the Marion County coroner's office, and toxicology tests also will be conducted, Riddle, the IMPD spokesman, said.
He added that the officers involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave until an internal investigation has been completed to determine whether IMPD policies and procedures were followed and whether the shooting was justified.
Depending on that outcome, the investigation could be turned over to a grand jury, Riddle said.
Call Star reporter Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia.
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