Catherine Rusoff
Police officers responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex raided the wrong unit and fatally shot a black US Air Force airman who was home alone when they saw he had a gun, a lawyer for the man’s family said Wednesday.
Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was stationed in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was at his home in the Chez Elan Apartments, about five miles from the air base, when he was killed.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson was on a Facetime call with a woman at the time of the encounter.
According to Crump, the woman, who Crump did not identify, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock on the door. He asked who was there, but got no answer. A few minutes later, there was a very aggressive knock on the door, Crump said in a statement, but Fortson didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole.
The woman said Fortson was concerned and went to get his gun, which Crump said was legally owned.
As Fortson returned to his living room, officers burst through the door, saw that Fortson was armed and shot him six times, according to Crump’s testimony. Fortson was on the ground, saying, “I can’t breathe,” after being shot, Crump said.
Fortson died at a hospital, authorities said. The deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The woman said Fortson was not causing a disturbance during the Facetime call and believes the officers must have picked the wrong apartment, Crump’s statement said.
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“The circumstances surrounding Roger’s death raise serious questions that demand immediate responses from authorities, especially considering alarming witness testimony that police entered the wrong apartment,” Crump said in the statement.
“We call for transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of the body camera video to the family,” Crump said. “His family and the public deserve to know what happened in the moments leading up to this tragedy.”
Crump is a nationally known attorney living in Tallahassee, Florida. He has been involved in several high-profile shooting cases involving black people, including those of Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Tire Nichols and George Floyd.
Crump and Fortson’s family plans to speak at a news conference in Fort Walton Beach on Thursday morning.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement last week that a deputy responding to a call about a disturbance in progress at the apartment complex responded in self-defense after encountering an armed man. The office did not offer details about what type of disturbance the deputies were responding to or who called them.
Authorities said earlier this week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local State Attorney’s Office will investigate the shooting.
FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it is highly unlikely the agency will comment further until the investigation is complete.
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said Wednesday in a statement, “All of us at the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office are saddened by the fatal officer involved shooting over the weekend.”
Aden said he immediately placed the deputy on administrative leave and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to conduct the necessary investigation into such incidents. The State Attorney’s Office will also conduct an independent review.
“At this time, we humbly ask for our community’s patience as we work to understand the facts that led to this tragic event,” the sheriff said.
Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a special missions airman, where one of his duties as a member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider crew was to carry the helicopter’s 30mm and 105mm cannons during missions.
Fort Walton Beach is between Panama City Beach and Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle.
