Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old black Air Force servicemember, was shot and killed by a Florida sheriff’s deputy who entered the wrong apartment, prominent civil rights attorney and Fortson family lawyer Ben Crump alleged in a statement on Wednesday—however, authorities have released few details about the shooting.
Roger Fortson was alone in his apartment when a Florida sheriff’s deputy responded to a ... [+]
An Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy was placed on administrative leave over the weekend after a fatal shooting at an apartment complex in Fort Walton Beach, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday, while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office conduct reviews of the shooting.
The office said the deputy, who has not been named, was investigating a “disturbance in progress when he encountered an armed man,” who was later identified by the U.S. Air Force as Fortson, an airman stationed at Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle.
Deputies were responding to a disturbance between a “male and a female,” which was called in by the apartment complex’s leasing office, the Military Times reported, citing a recording of dispatchers.
However, Crump alleges law enforcement entered the wrong apartment and Fortson was alone at home at the time of the shooting, citing a witness who was speaking with Fortson on Facetime when the shooting happened.
The witness said Fortson retrieved his legally owned gun after he heard a “very aggressive knock” on the door and got no response when asking “who is it?” according to Crump.
The deputy “burst through the door,” Crump’s office said, citing the witness, and shot Fortson six times in the chest after they saw the airman was armed.
In an original press release on Friday, the Sheriff’s Office said the deputy “reacted in self defense” and “identified himself as law enforcement”—but the sheriff’s updated statement on Tuesday did not repeat those claims.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has not commented on Crump’s statement, and has not confirmed if the deputy responded to the wrong apartment. The Sheriff’s Office did not return a request for comment from Forbes.
“The narrative released by law enforcement, which falsely suggests that Roger posed a threat, is deeply troubling and inconsistent with the details: Roger was home alone, causing no disturbance, when his life was tragically cut short by law enforcement,” Crump said in a statement posted on social media.
According to Crump, Fortson “enlisted in the military after graduating from high school with honors and had no criminal record. By all accounts, he was a stellar member of the Air Force and loved by his community.” He was originally from the Atlanta area, and graduated from McNair High School in DeKalb County, Georgia, local station 11Alive reported. Fortson, a senior airman at the time of his death, entered active duty in November 2019 was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron based out of Hurlburt Field. The unit flies Block 30 AC-130J Ghostrider gunships and is currently supporting Operation Inherent Resolve—the Pentagon’s operation to support regional allies after the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.