The family of an Illinois man who was shot and killed by police in his bedroom last month is pushing for the officers involved to be identified and charged after officials revealed sections of several body camera footage capturing the shooting.
“We never received answers. Kennetha Barnes, Isaac Goodlow’s older sister, told CNN on Saturday, “We don’t know anything.” Barnes stated, “Justice for us means the police being charged.”
Goodlow, 30, died on February 3 from a single gunshot wound to the chest, Carol Stream Police Chief Donald Cummings said in a video statement Friday.
The shooting is being investigated by the Public Integrity Team of the DuPage Metropolitan Emergency Response and Investigative Team, which is comprised of detectives from county agencies and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, Carol Stream officials said in a release last month. The police have been placed on paid administrative leave awaiting the investigation, which will be conducted by the state attorney’s office.
Meanwhile, Goodlow’s family is “devastated,” according to Steven Hart, an attorney for the family, and they are dealing with “so many unanswered questions.”
“They’re in shock, dismay, mourning the death of their son and brother,” Hart told me.
On Friday, the Village of Carol Stream released a 33-minute video compiled from police body camera footage of six Carol Stream Police Department officers. It begins with a five-minute statement from Chief Cummings, who describes the events leading up to the shooting but cautions that the tapes only show the shooting itself. He also noticed that officials masked the faces of the officers and Goodlow before releasing the video.
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Cummings said officers arrived on February 3 to reports of a domestic violence incident involving Goodlow’s girlfriend, which she said resulted in injuries. According to Cummings, she claimed that the “altercation” drove her to flee barefoot out of the apartment they shared.
After inspecting her, paramedics allowed her to return home. However, the door was locked, and she permitted officers to enter, Cummings stated. According to police, authorities on the site attempted to contact Goodlow for 45 minutes without success, phoning his cell phone and knocking on the apartment door and an external window. Cummings stated that cops acquired a key from an apartment building official.
One body camera video shows an on-scene supervisor using a key to unlock the unit. Four cops may be seen entering a stacked formation and announcing themselves twice.
As officers exit the one-bedroom flat, one officer can be heard asking another, “Go through this door here?” The other cop replies, “Yeah.”
One officer kicks in the door, and very immediately, a shot is heard. One cop exclaims, “Oh, f**k!” Another gunshot goes off, followed by the sound of a taser.
The scene suddenly becomes frantic. Some officers move back from the bedroom door. One officer cries, “No! No!” “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Officers appear to tumble and fall as they rush to leave the cramped apartment. Soon after, officers started assessing each other for injuries. No cops were injured.
According to authorities, two policemen each fired one round. One round struck Goodlow in the chest.
Hart, the family’s attorney, told CNN on Saturday that they believe “it looks like vigilante law enforcement.”
“Shoot first, ask questions later, guns blazing,” Hart complained, “when what they expected was that the police were there to serve and protect Isaac, that they were to not enter his house without his permission at 4:15 or 4:30 in the morning, and certainly not do it behind a ballistic shield, tiptoeing in and then shooting him in the heart while he lay in his bed in his apartment.”
The Carol Stream Police Department acknowledged the investigation is still ongoing in a statement, but said it could not provide any other information beyond what was provided in Cummings’ video statement on Friday. “Lastly, as the Carol Stream Police Department has not been a part of the investigative process, we are eager to learn additional facts as to what occurred that morning,” according to a statement.
The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to comment, citing an “active and ongoing investigation” into the shooting.
