Family: Carol Stream police officers who shot man to death murdered him with ‘depraved hearts’
The Carol Stream police officers who fatally shot a man “acted with depraved hearts,” murdering an unarmed person, according to the lawyer the family has hired.
Attorney Andrew M. Stroth released a written statement Monday on behalf of the family of Isaac Goodlow III, who was killed Feb. 3 at an apartment on the 200 block of East St. Charles Road.
The village showed body-camera footage of the shooting to Goodlow’s family last week.
“The family’s worse fears were confirmed during the viewing of the manicured, redacted and heavily edited video they were allowed to see on Feb. 9,” the statement said.
“Nevertheless, it was abundantly clear that the Carol Stream Police officers, whose faces and identities were withheld, acted with depraved hearts, recklessly and in violation of Isaac’s constitutional rights when they shot and murdered an unarmed Black man while he was quietly in the bedroom of his own apartment.”
Asked for comment Monday, Carol Stream Village Manager William Holmer said the village supported the decision by investigators to show parts of the body-camera footage to the family. He said representatives of the police department contacted the family through Stroth, “pledging continued transparency moving forward.”
Members of Goodlow’s family, including his sister Kyenna McConico, spoke at a news conference Monday evening in front of the Carol Stream Police Department. They said they were shown “snippets” of video compiled from six officers’ body cameras.
McConico and others said the police are not being truthful about what happened.
McConico said the video showed someone letting police into Goodlow’s apartment. She believes it was an apartment maintenance worker.
She said the video shows police then entering Goodlow’s bedroom, where he was in bed sleeping.
After Goodlow was shot, an officer shocked him with a stun gun, McConico said.
She said nobody else was in the apartment at the time. The person who called the police to report she was a victim of domestic violence was outside, McConico said.
“He was murdered in his sleep,” said Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef, a Chicago civil-rights activist who organized the news conference. He said protests and civil disobedience will continue until all the video is released. Yosef said he suspects if the situation were reversed and Goodlow had shot police, the video would have been released the same day.
The family’s statement said the family demands full, unredacted videos immediately be released to the public.
The statement also said the family is asking the village and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office to immediately act to hold the police department and its officers accountable.
The family “demands the full truth be told about Isaac’s murder at the hands of those who took an oath to protect him,” the statement said.
‘The family of Isaac Goodlow III demands those who committed these heinous acts be prosecuted to the ends of justice, and will not be silent or rest until those responsible are held to account.”
Carol Stream has declined to release any information about the officers involved, including their names, race and years of experience.
In its initial news release announcing the shooting, the police department said officers came to the apartment around 4:15 a.m. for a domestic violence call and that Goodlow was a suspect in that. It said officers “encountered a tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving situation.”
The two officers who shot at Goodlow are on paid leave.
The DuPage County Metropolitan Emergency Response and Investigations Team is investigating the shooting, and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office will review the findings and determine if the shooting was justified.
On Friday night, the village announced investigators had shown body-camera footage to the family earlier that day. It also said it would release “the most relevant video footage” to the public if the investigators and state’s attorney determine it will not negatively affect the investigation.