Saturday, December 12, 2015

IMPD Involved In Fatal Police Action Shooting

13 WTHR Indianapolis
UPDATED: A fatal police action shooting on Indianapolis' northeast side led to a brief confrontation between area residents and IMPD officers. The windshield of one officer's car was smashed during the confrontation at an apartment complex in the 7900 block of Red Mill Road. According to police, officers responded to a call about a suicidal man identified as 25-year old Christopher Goodlow. When they arrived, they found the knife-wielding African-American male near the entrance to the apartment complex wearing only boxer shorts.

I've not been able to find any video of the shooting online. WTHR aired video taken by a witness of the confrontation between the man and police right up to the point of the shooting. Part of the video is included in the WTHR news footage above. The man appeared to be lunging at one of the officers with the knife he held when he was fatally shot. A gathered crowd reacted with anger over the shooting, lashing out at police, claiming the man was mentally ill. This is the 20th officer-involved shooting this year according to the Indianapolis Star, about half of which have been fatal.

According to the Indianapolis Star, Steven Chambers recorded a nearly four-minute long video of the standoff and subsequent shooting. After Chambers posted the video to his Facebook page, IMPD confiscated the cell phone on which he took the video. Chambers told The Star police attempted to subdue the shooting victim by first tasing him. "They Tased him, they tried tackling him. They asked multiple times to put away the knife," Chambers said. Chambers described the man as lunging at police with a knife before he was shot four times and fell to the ground.

Click here for a link to the video Chambers posted on Facebook.


Share this it just happens outside my house
Posted by Steven Chambers on Saturday, December 12, 2015

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The man appeared to be lunging at one of the officers with the knife he held when he was fatally shot."

The pigs need to be charged with murder. Tasers, spray, a baton and a good old-fashioned are more than adequate for any non coward to subdue a clumsy knife-lunger.

Gary R. Welsh said...

This shooting is entirely different than the Miami Beach police shooting video I posted a week ago. This man is moving around erratically, and he's holding a knife, not a small straight edge razor. The report indicates police tried unsuccessfully to use a taser on him. He quite possibly could have been under the influence of a drug that made him very volatile. I don't see it the way you do, anon. 9:02. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

I know you don't, Gary, and that disturbs me about you. Republicans justify killing under the thinnest pretenses.

There was no reason to act, certainly not to kill.

There were hundreds of non-lethal options, including hand-to-hand combat that the pigs employ routinely on the defenseless. When confronted with the mildest threat, the cops grab the guns and forget all about the Krav Maga.

On the street, with real tough guys, this guy would have had his knife taken from him in about a second, and the crew would have been laughing while doing it.

Anonymous said...


Gary, I agree with you. I am no fan of the police state but it is an established fact that a person's actions motivated by mental illness and especially by powerful illicit drugs can be very difficult to control. Such a person may very well be a potential danger who must be stopped by all means possible for the safety of others.

I am also no fan of police forces when this City's own corrupt mayor can break criminal and civil laws at his every turn and remain unshackled and "unsentenced" to prison. But to call police "pigs" and to judge them like this is not right. It's just not what a sensible person assessing the entire situation would say.

Anonymous said...


Good Grief, Anon 9:18. I can only surmise that you intentionally draw a false connection between this sad event and "Republicans"; to do so politicizes an event for which "politics" has zero bearing. You and your ilk are pathetic. You use the thinnest pretense of intellectual discourse to smear. This type of hypocritical hyperbole gets us nowhere.

I am not a supporter of or an apologist for establishment RINO "Republicans" but your insidious, hateful, and unfair bullying remarks indicate people like you go to a dark place to do more harm than to begin healing.

Anonymous said...

9:46:

You should be embarrassed by your stupidity and dishonesty.

In a crude and failing attempt at spin, and in a revelation of your own sick savagery and sadism, you argue that the side of restraint and non-lethality is the side that needs to engage in contemplation.

You've made a fool of yourself.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing how ignorant anon 9:02 and 9:18 statements are. If you were confronted by a crazy person with a knife you sure as hell wouldn't attempt to disarm a him tough guy. And believe it or not the police aren't paid to do that either. They are paid to go and confront situations like this so crazy guy with a knife doesn't attack you in your arm chair quarterback. They should be expected to be able go home at night to their families. Looks like they did everything they could to resolve it without shooting him before he lunged. They even tazed him which didn't work. Instead calling cops "pigs" for doing their jobs you should be thanking them and looking at the situation for what it was, an unfortunate incident caused by the actions of one disturbed man.

Anonymous said...

All the spent platitudes are out in defense of murder.

"If you were confronted by a crazy person with a knife you sure as hell wouldn't attempt to disarm"

Don't be a fool. Of course, I would, if I couldn't evade and maintain a safe distance. Necessity demands it.

"the police aren't paid to do that either."

Yes, they are.

"They are paid to go and confront situations like this so crazy guy with a knife doesn't attack you in your arm chair quarterback."

That was unintelligible.

"expected to be able go home at night to their families"

That's one of the biggest cop lies, ever. Police are expected to put their lives at risk, every day.

"Looks like they did everything they could to resolve it without shooting him before he lunged."

And the sick, savage, refulgent hate crowd has emerged to justify murder-at-will.

" Instead calling cops "pigs" for doing their jobs "

Their job isn't murder.

"you should be thanking them and looking at the situation for what it was"

Murderers don't deserve gratitude.

Take away their guns.

This sort of hate and cowardice only comes from Republicans.


Anonymous said...

That is one sad, sick individual posting crap. Obviously, life is different there in Pixie Hollow.

Downtown Indy said...

As soon as people start referring to the 'pigs' they invalidate their entire opinion.

A weapon in the hands of a mentally ill person can kill you just as dead as one in the hands of a sane person. A sane person will more likely follow orders to drop it but that leaves the police with (a) insane person or (b) homicidal person as their choices. They don't have the luxury of the after the fact knowledge that the folks crying 'murderer' have. Those folks also do not have the benefit of hearing all that the suspect was saying to the police. My guess is it was no 'hi, I'm just crazy and don't know what I'm doing so you don't need to shoot me.'

I want our police to get out of their cars AND I want them all to go home after their shift ends.

Anonymous said...

I see the family has come out to say this young man suffered from bipolar and mental health issues. Very sad. I see they are also blaming the police for protecting the citizens. Very sad.

I assure the 10:39 anonymous poster, taking a life in a case like this is the last thing to do, not the first.

I applaud the police for the difficult job they have to do. Please get some help for yourself 1039. Mental health is something we, as a society, must address.

Anonymous said...

The department is always hiring if you think you could do a better job. Good shoot. Case closed. Next.