Florida Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed 23-year-old Airman without warning

Senior Airman Roger Fortson was alone at his off-base residence and in communication with his girlfriend via FaceTime when an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot and killed the 23-year-old without warning.

A body-camera video of the incident shows the deputy knocking at the apartment, demanding that Fortson the door.

The airman opened the door holding a pistol in his right hand, which was at his side and pointed away from the deputy, although there is no indication criminal violation of Florida law occurred.

As the door opened, the deputy shouted, “Step back,” and then he rapidly fired five or six shots at Fortson, who fell down on his back.

The bodycam footage was released after civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, urged officials to make it public.

The family has disputed local police accounts about what really happened in the lead-up to the deadly shooting.

Florida’s notorious Stand Your Ground law allows people to use deadly force in public without retreating, even if they aren’t in immediate danger of death or serious injury. The law extends the principle of “castle doctrine” which says that individuals have the right to use reasonable force, including deadly force, to protect themselves against an intruder in their home.

Sheriff Eric Aden of Okaloosa County, who met with Fortson’s family shortly before holding a news conference, said he asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Division to handle the criminal investigation, as required.

While that probe is ongoing, he said, “no determination has been made as to whether the deputy’s actions were justified or not.” The deputy has been placed on administrative leave.

“What we do know at this time is that the deputy did announce himself, not once but twice,” Aden said. “Mr. Fortson’s comments indicate that he did acknowledge it was law enforcement at the door and he arrived at the door with a firearm in his hand. The deputy knocked on the correct door, he did not cover the peephole or otherwise obscured its view in any way.”

Fortson’s family says law enforcement knocked on the wrong door, but the deputy responding to a domestic disturbance report was given his unit number by a witness when he arrived at the apartment complex.

The video seems to support the Fortson family’s allegation that the deputy gave the soldier no verbal commands before firing multiple rounds at close range.

“It is very troubling that the deputy gave no verbal commands and shot multiple times within a split second of the door being opened, killing Roger,” said a statement from the family released by Crump.

“We remain adamant that the police had the wrong apartment as Roger was on the phone with his girlfriend for a substantial amount of time leading up to the shooting and no one else was in the apartment,” said the family’s statement.

The video shows the deputy walking up to a brown apartment door at around 4:30 p.m. and then waiting outside as if he is checking for noise coming from the unit.

All that is audible is a dog barking and then the deputy moves to the side of the door.

After about 25 seconds, the deputy knocked on the door and shouted, “Sheriff’s office, open the door.”

The deputy repeated his demand moments before Fortson opened the door holding a gun in his right hand by his side.

The deputy shouted “Step back,” and immediately fired multiple shots at close range.

The video shows Fortson falling backward onto the ground before the deputy shouted, “Drop the gun, drop the gun.”

“It’s over there,” Forston said, with pain in his voice. “I don’t have it.”

The deputy then called for medical assistance.

Police have killed 384 people in the U.S. so far in 2024, with 23 of them in Florida, according to Mapping Police Violence, a nonprofit organization that publishes a database of police violence in the United States. 

That data, considered to be the most comprehensive record of people killed by police since 2013, shows that Black people are three times as likely to be killed by police than White people.

A witness who was on a FaceTime video call with Fortson when he was killed said there was no disturbance, which law enforcement said was the reason for the call, Crump said.

The video contradicts minor claims in an initial statement that said: “According to a witness who was on Facetime with Roger during the entire encounter, Roger was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock at the door. He asked, ‘Who is it?’ but didn’t get a response. A few minutes later, there was a very aggressive knock on the door, but Roger didn’t see anyone when he looked out the peephole. Concerned, he did what any other law-abiding citizen would do and retrieved his legally-owned gun, but as he was walking back to the living room, police burst through the door. When they saw the gun, they shot Roger six times. The witness has said that she saw Roger on the ground stating, ‘I can’t breathe,’ after he was shot. She has also said the police were in the wrong apartment as there was no disturbance in the apartment and he was alone.”

Although police did not “burst through the door” the video cast strong doubt on the Sheriff’s claim that the deputy acted in self-defense.

Crump, who is representing the Fortson family, initially accused the deputy of going to the wrong apartment based on the account from his girlfriend, who was in communication with the military serviceman when the officer showed up.

A witness gave the deputy Fortson’s unit number but there is nothing to suggest that any disturbance occurred at that location.

The lawyer has also said the shooting was unjustified. That appears to be confirmed by the video, since the deputy did not order the soldier to put down his weapon, which was pointed away from his direction.

Fortson was taken to a hospital where he died, officials said. The deputy involved was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident.

Florida has relatively permissive gun laws, with few restrictions on ownership and possession. For example, Florida residents do not need a permit to purchase handguns, rifles, or shotguns, but they do need a permit to carry a handgun.

Florida law does not require gun owners to register their firearms, and the state does not keep a registry of law-abiding gun owners.

In 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that allows citizens and non-residents to carry concealed guns without a permit.

Florida law permits the use of deadly force when a person believes such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

Florida statutes also permit a law enforcement officer to use any force that he believes is necessary to defend himself or another from bodily harm while making an arrest.

The family issued the following statement:

“In the four-and-a-half minute, heavily redacted video, it is very troubling that the deputy gave no verbal commands and shot multiple times within a split second of the door being opened, killing Roger. Despite the redactions, the video has provided some answers, but it’s also raised even more troubling questions: As the officer didn’t tell Roger to drop the weapon before shooting, was the officer trained to give verbal warnings? Did the officer try to initiate life-saving measures? Was the officer trained to deal with law-abiding citizens who are registered gun owners?

“The girlfriend acknowledges that even though she initially thought the door was forced open by the police that she stands by her emotional recollection of what happened. To provide transparency into what happened during the Facetime video with Roger, his girlfriend and her attorney have instructed us that we can release a portion of the Facetime video that was recorded at the time of this tragedy.

“We remain adamant that the police had the wrong apartment as Roger was on the phone with his girlfriend for a substantial amount of time leading up to the shooting, and no one else was in the apartment.”

The girlfriend will be holding a press conference in the near future so the media can hear from her directly.