On a Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis, Indiana, a distressed 25-year-old man named Christopher Goodlow was shot and killed by police. The events leading to his death on December 12, 2015, began when police responded to a call about a suicidal man at an apartment complex near East 38th Street and Franklin Road. Officers found Goodlow, who was wearing only underwear and was bloodied, wielding a knife.
His family would later disclose that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
For ten minutes, four officers surrounded Goodlow in the street, attempting to de-escalate the situation. They reported that he refused repeated commands to drop the knife. In an effort to subdue him without lethal force, one officer tried to tackle him, and a taser was deployed twice, but these measures were ineffective. Goodlow continued to threaten the officers and, after he lunged at an officer for a second time, two veteran officers fired their weapons, striking him three times. Goodlow died at the scene.
The shooting of Christopher Goodlow sparked anger and questions from some community members about the necessity of using lethal force against a man armed with a knife. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department defended the officers' actions, stating that they had no other choice given the threat he posed. Goodlow's family criticized the police's handling of the incident, pointing to his known mental illness. The incident highlighted the challenges law enforcement faces when encountering individuals in the midst of a mental health crisis. Christopher Sheldon Goodlow Jr., as he was formally known, left behind two daughters.
