The fatal shooting of Roger Fortson by a Florida deputy when the senior Air Force aviator opened his door armed with a gun pointed down happened nearly a month ago, but information released so far has not clarified why the officer was led to his apartment. .
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office released body camera video of the May 3 shooting and redacted 911 calls and reports, but not the deputy’s name. The agency also did not say whether the deputy made a statement to investigators. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating, but because the investigation is ongoing, it would not comment. Fortson was black. The alternate’s race has not been released.
Lawyer: Deputy who fatally shot Florida airman had the wrong apartment
Fortson, 23, had no criminal record and there is no evidence he was involved in the disturbance that led to the deputy being called to the apartment complex. Fortson was alone in his apartment and his girlfriend said she and Fortson were having a normal video call when the deputy started banging on the door.
Ben Crump, the family’s attorney, has called the shooting “an unjustified murder,” and Matt Gaetz, the area’s staunch Republican congressman, said Fortson did nothing wrong.
Here are some of the key issues surrounding the case:
Why was the deputy in Fortson’s apartment?
On May 3 just before 4:25 p.m., a female employee at the Elan Apartments in the Florida Panhandle community of Fort Walton Beach called the sheriff’s office and said a resident had reported a loud argument that had been going on for 20 minutes. It was said that it ‘sounded like it was getting physical’ and that ‘it happens often’.
She gave Fortson’s fourth-floor apartment as the location of the disturbance, but he was home alone. At the operator’s suggestion, the employee walked near Fortson’s unit and reported that she had heard nothing.
According to the camera footage, the deputy arrived about three minutes later. He entered the office, where a man directed him to the parking lot. A woman met him there. On video, she sounds like the employee who told the operator she would meet the deputy. Her face is blurred in the video.
“Are they fighting or something?” the deputy asked.
She responded that there was apparently a fight in one of the apartments and it was “getting out of hand.”
He asked which apartment.
“I don’t know. So I’m not sure,” she replied. She then told the deputy that two weeks earlier she had heard someone yelling and cursing in the apartment, followed by a sound that sounded like a slap, but that she had not reported it.
The deputy again asked which apartment, and this time the woman gave Fortson’s apartment number. The deputy repeated the number. She confirmed that the apartment was on the fourth floor and gave the deputy directions.
Fortson lived alone and had no visitors at the time of the shooting. That has raised questions about whether the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment. County 911 records show officers had never been called to his apartment before. However, officers had been called to another fourth-floor apartment 10 times in the past eight months, including once for family disturbances.
A 911 call from a resident, apparently shortly after the fatal shooting, referred to an argument between a man and a woman in an apartment where a child lives.
Crump has said he believes police were sent to the wrong apartment. It is not clear whether he is referring to the apartment where the police were previously called.
What happened when the deputy arrived at Fortson?
The deputy arrived at Fortson’s door less than three minutes after arriving at the complex. He listened silently outside for 20 seconds, but no voices can be heard on his body camera inside.
Bodycam footage shows a relief pilot being shot seconds after opening the door
He then banged on the door but did not identify himself. He then walked to the side of the door, about five feet away. He waited fifteen seconds before banging on the door again. This time he shouted, “Sheriff’s office – open the door!” He moved aside again.
Less than ten seconds later he walked back to the door and knocked again, announcing himself once again.
Fortson opened the door, holding his legally purchased pistol in his right hand. It lay next to him and pointed to the ground. The deputy said, “Get back,” and immediately started shooting. Fortson fell backwards to the ground.
Only then did the deputy shout, “Drop the gun!”
Fortson replied, “It’s there.”
The deputy called for paramedics, but Fortson died a short time later at the hospital.
What happened after the shooting?
In the hours after the shooting, the sheriff’s office issued a brief news release with few details. It says the deputy responded to a call about a disturbance and heard it himself, which is not confirmed by the body camera audio.
“He responded in self-defense after encountering a 23-year-old man armed with a handgun and after the deputy identified himself as a law enforcement officer,” the statement said.
The shooting received little media attention for days. It wasn’t until Fortson’s family wondered how a pilot with no criminal record could be shot by a deputy in his doorway and hired Crump that it gained national attention.
Hundreds of funerals for murdered pilot Roger Fortson
“One thing is clear from the bodycam and must be said unequivocally: Roger did not deserve to die. He did nothing wrong,” Rep. Gaetz said in a statement.
Hundreds attended Fortson’s funeral near his childhood home in suburban Atlanta, as fellow airmen filed past his flag-draped casket as they paid their respects.
The apartment where Fortson lived is about eight miles from Hurlburt Field, where Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a special missions pilot serving on an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship. One of his duties was to load the aircraft’s 30mm and 105mm guns during combat.
