3/4/2024
A police department in suburban Chicago has released portions of several body camera videos capturing the moments police shot and killed a man inside his apartment bedroom. The videos fill in some key information about the incident but do not show why police opened fire.
Isaac Goodlow, 30, died February 3 after taking one gunshot wound to the chest, police said Friday.
A 33-minute video released by the Village of Carol Stream, Illinois, about 30 miles west of downtown Chicago, which contains a compilation of the body camera videos of six officers, begins with a five-minute statement from Carol Stream Police Chief Donald Cummings, detailing the incidents leading to the shooting.
Cummings pointed out the videos capture only the events of the shooting, not the events leading up to the shooting or after. He also noted authorities blurred the faces of the officers and Goodlow before releasing them.
According to Cummings, police responded around 4:15 a.m. February 3 to reports of a domestic violence incident reported by Goodlow’s girlfriend. Cummings said Goodlow’s girlfriend reported she and Goodlow got into an “altercation,” which resulted in injuries and caused her to run barefoot out of the apartment she and Goodlow shared.
Paramedics assessed Goodlow’s girlfriend and released her to return home, Cummings said. Goodlow’s girlfriend could not get back inside because the apartment had been locked, Cummings said, and gave consent to officers to enter her locked apartment.
For the next 45 minutes, according to police, officers on scene unsuccessfully attempted to contact Goodlow by calling his cell phone, knocking on the door to the apartment and an exterior window. Cummings said police obtained a key from an apartment building representative.
In one body camera video, an on-scene supervisor uses a key to open the apartment. Four officers can be seen in a stacked formation making entry while announcing themselves twice.
As officers clear the one-bedroom apartment, an officer can be heard asking another officer, “Go through this door here?” The other officer responds, “Yeah.”
One officer kicks in the door and almost immediately one shot is heard. One officer yells: “Oh fk!” Another gunshot rings out, followed shortly by the sound of a taser.
The scene quickly turns chaotic. Some officers pull back from the bedroom door. One officer yells: “No! No! Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Officers appear to trip and fall as they rush to retreat in the small apartment. Shortly after, officers begin assessing one another for injuries. No officers were hurt.
According to police, two officers each shot one round. One round hit Goodlow in the chest.