Police officer Jason Meade kills young man after shooting him SIX times in US

A police officer has been found guilty of reckless homicide after shooting a young man who was merely taking sandwiches to his grandmother's house. Jason Meade gunned Casey Goodson Jr six times — five times in the back and once in the side — having pursued him into the property after passing each other in their vehicles. It led to outrage during the five years since, and Mr Goodson's family says they can only now start "finally start truly grieving". Meade, now 47, has become the second white law enforcement officer to be convicted of the killing of a Black man in Ohio since the 2020 killing of dad-to-five George Floyd . Mr Goodson's killing happened just six months later, in December of that year, and Meade was later tried for murder. This case ended in a mistrial and Meade stood in the dock again this year at a court in Columbus, Ohio. Meade, who is white, said his repeated shooting of Mr Goodson was justified because he saw the 23-year-old holding a gun and turning toward him in the doorway of the house in Columbus. No one else testified they saw Mr Goodson holding the gun he was licensed to carry, and no cameras recorded the shooting. Mr Goodson was actually taking sandwiches to his nan. Meade had testified in the first trial that he pursued Mr Goodson after the man waved a gun at him as they passed each other in their vehicles. According to his family and prosecutors, Mr Goodson was holding a bag of Subway sandwiches in one hand and his keys in the other, and was listening to music through earbuds when he was killed. Tamala Payne, Mr Goodson's mother, said the guilty verdict gives her family closure and peace. She told reporters outside the court: "I know now Casey can rest. You know, we’ve been fighting for five and a half years, and Casey sees his family fighting. He knows the stress. He knows the pain. He knows the heartache. And now, not only can we try to find peace and finally start truly grieving, my baby can rest." Meade, who retired from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department in 2021, did not take the stand at his second trial. His prosecutors said the evidence suggested the gun wasn't in Mr Goodson's hands, but in a flimsy holder under his belt. They added it was found under his body, its safety mechanism still engaged, as Mr Goodson laid mortally wounded on the kitchen floor of his grandmother's house. The defendant, also a Baptist pastor, will be sentenced on July 16. Ohio law defines murder as the purposeful causing of a death, while the lesser charge of reckless murder means the defendant acted recklessly in causing a death. The former is punishable by up to life in prison, while the latter carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.