Florida deputy who fatally shot U.S. airman is fired following internal investigation

A sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot a Florida airman in his apartment earlier this month was fired, authorities announced Friday.

Deputy Eddie Duran was “fired” following an internal affairs investigation, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The investigation determined that Duran’s “use of deadly force” in the shooting death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson “was not objectively reasonable and therefore violated agency policy,” the sheriff’s office said.

On May 3, 23-year-old Fortson was in his apartment in the city of Fort Walton Beach, in the Florida Panhandle, when he was shot to death by Duran. Fortson was based in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, about five miles from his apartment.

Sheriff’s investigators determined that Duran was initially dispatched to an “ongoing physical disturbance” at the Fortson apartment complex, the sheriff’s office said in its news release Friday.

The sheriff’s office says that when Duran arrived at the complex, he was directed by a complex employee to unit 1401, where the employee stated was “the location of the disturbance” and added that “there have been recent unreported disturbances at or near the location.” he”. same apartment,” the sheriff’s office said.

A previously released statement from the family, however, contradicts that claim, claiming that Fortson was on a FaceTime call with his girlfriend before the shooting, and claimed that the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment.

Body camera video released by the sheriff’s office earlier this month showed a deputy knocking on the door of Fortson’s apartment and announcing that he was at the sheriff’s office. When the door opens, the deputy yells at Fortson to back off.

In the bodycam video, the deputy initially knocks without announcing himself. About 30 seconds later, he knocks again, saying he’s at the sheriff’s office and to open the door. He knocks and announces himself approximately 10 seconds later. Seconds after Fortson opens the door, the officer shoots Fortson, who is seen holding what appears to be a gun next to him.

Attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Fortson family, previously stated at a news conference that Fortson was on FaceTime with his girlfriend and went to get his legally owned gun after hearing a knock on the door and not hearing who was there.

Crump’s company also previously released video of the FaceTime call that appears to begin after the shooting, showing the ceiling of Fortson’s apartment.

“I can’t breathe,” Fortson says in the video as he moans.

Sheriff’s investigators allege that when Fortson opened the door, Duran saw Fortson “holding a firearm in his right hand” but that the gun “was pointed low enough at the ground that the former deputy could clearly see the rear face from the rear sight.”

Fortson “did not physically resist” Duran “in any way, and the investigation concluded that Mr. Forston did not point the gun in the former deputy’s direction,” the sheriff’s office said Friday.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said in a statement Friday that “this tragic incident should never have occurred. The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson’s actions. The Mr. Fortson committed no crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual.”

– Alex Sundby contributed to this report.