Deputy Fired After Unjustified Shooting of Black Airman in Florida

United States Air Force serviceman Roger Fortson
United States Air Force serviceman Roger Fortson. Credit | U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Stephens

United States – In Florida, the sheriff’s office discharged a deputy on Friday for shooting and killing a Black airman with the U. S. Air Force because the force he used was not reasonable.

That was according to an internal probe conducted by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office into the murder of Roger Fortson, 23, on May 3 in Fort Walton Beach, said the sheriff’s office in a statement, as reported by Reuters.

Tragedy and Lack of Justification

A deputy identified as Eddie Duran has been under criminal investigation for shooting and killing Fortson, the sheriff’s office mentioned.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said about the tragedy, “This should have never happened. ” The available evidence does not indicate that using lethal force is fitting to address the conduct of Mr. Fortson. “

The sheriff added: ”It was another case where Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. From all the information available, he was a distinguished airman and a person.

Calls for Justice Amidst Firing

Speaking to media in a statement, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson’s family said that the firing was a positive step but it is not total justice for Roger and his family. ”These actions were not just careless but criminal,” Crump added.

This happened earlier this month when the deputy’s body camera was released, recording him going to an apartment complex for domestic violence involvement. A person working in the complex was the one who was assigned to meet Duran when he came and led him to Fortson’s apartment.

Duran entered Fortson’s home without permission, knocking on the door several more times and twice declaring that he was with the sheriff’s department.

In the recorded body camera video of the shooting event, Fortson is seen opening the door, wielding a handgun at his right side, and pointing at the floor. He was not aiming the gun at the deputy. Duran fired numerous shots at the subject at close range with his weapon. This means that Fortson breathed his or her last at the hospital.

Pointing at the contradiction in the shooters’ statements, Fortson’s family argues that the sheriff’s deputy got the wrong apartment. They have noted that he was talking on the phone with his girlfriend when the shooting took place, and there was no other person at the apartment.

The sheriff’s department, investigating the case, said that an anonymous call was made to a non-emergency phone line of the sheriff’s department from the apartment where Fortson lived, the caller said she or he heard a couple arguing in Fortson’s apartment.

However, Crump stated that Fortson was on a Facetime call with his girlfriend when he detected a knock on the door. He spoke to no one in particular and asked, “ Who is it?” but did not get an answer, Crump narrating from the girlfriend’s side of the story.

The prosecution said that Fortson then took a legally registered firearm and stepped back into his sitting room towards the door.

Echoes of Past Tragedies and Calls for Reform

This shooting was similar to an operation police launched in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2020 in the house of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman and an emergency medical technician. The police had gotten a “no knock” warrant to investigate the apartment, recklessly believing it to be the residence of a suspect, as reported by Reuters.

Taylor’s death was followed by Floyd’s unfortunate demise due to the police in Minneapolis weeks later sparking global protests against racism within the police force in the Summer of 2020.