In the Binghampton neighborhood of Memphis on the evening of February 22, 2024, the life of Adrian Goodrich, a cherished 52-year-old male football coach, was tragically cut short. Known affectionately as 'Coach Skeet,' Goodrich was found shot in the head and died at the scene on Scott Street near Yale Avenue. The community and the many students he had mentored at various schools, most recently Bellevue Middle School, were left in mourning.
Witnesses at the scene reported hearing people
yelling, 'Don't do that, don't do that!' just before gunshots rang out. One witness saw a white SUV near Goodrich's Lexus at the time of the shooting. This information led investigators to two men who were subsequently arrested in connection with the fatal shooting. The investigation that followed, however, was fraught with complexity and ultimately did not lead to a conviction.
During the course of the investigation, one of the men who had been in the white SUV told police that the other suspect had fired at him first after he parked his vehicle. He claimed that he returned fire in self-defense and that Goodrich was behind him when the initial shots were fired. Despite the arrests, the case against both men faltered.
In a turn of events that brought further anguish to Goodrich's loved ones, a judge dismissed the charges against both men on May 15, 2024, citing insufficient evidence. The Shelby County District Attorney's Office stated that a significant factor in this decision was the lack of eyewitness testimony. The charges of reckless homicide and convicted felon in possession of a handgun against one suspect, and aggravated assault against the second man, were dropped, leaving the investigation into the death of Adrian Goodrich unresolved.
