Attorney, family of Black airman fatally shot by Florida deputies want a transparent investigation

MIAMI– The family of a 23-year-old black U.S. Air Force pilot who was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies last week in his off-base apartment in Florida will join civil rights attorney Ben Crump on Thursday for a news conference calling for transparency in the research.

Crump said in a statement released Wednesday that Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputies responding to a disturbance call at the Fort Walton Beach apartment complex rushed into the wrong unit and fatally shot Senior Airman Roger Fortson when they saw he was armed with a handgun. Fortson was home alone and FaceTiming with a friend when officers showed up at his door, Crump said.

Fortson was stationed with the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field.

According to Crump, the woman, who the attorney did not identify, said Fortson heard a knock on the door. He asked who was there, but received no answer. A few minutes later, Fortson heard a louder crash, but he didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, Crump said, citing the woman’s account.

The woman said Fortson became concerned and went to retrieve his gun, which Crump said was legally owned.

As Fortson walked back through his living room, officers burst through the door, saw Fortson was armed and shot him six times, according to Crump’s statement. The woman said Fortson lay on the ground and said, “I can’t breathe” after he was shot, Crump said.

Fortson died at a hospital, officials said. The deputy involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

The woman said Fortson did not cause a disturbance during their FaceTime call and believes the officers must have had the wrong apartment, according to Crump’s statement.

“The circumstances surrounding Roger’s death raise serious questions that require immediate answers from authorities, especially given the alarming witness testimony that police entered the wrong apartment,” Crump said.

“We are calling for transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of bodycam videos 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 based 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.

When he released a statement on Fortson’s death on Wednesday, Crump was in Ohio for the funeral of Frank Tyson, a 53-year-old who died in police custody on April 18.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to an email or voicemail from The Associated Press seeking comment about Crump’s statements. But Sheriff Eric Aden posted a statement on Facebook Wednesday afternoon expressing his sadness over the shooting.

“At this time, we humbly ask for the patience of our community as we attempt to understand the facts that led to this tragic event,” Aden said.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement last week that a deputy responding to a call about a disturbance at the apartment complex acted in self-defense after encountering an armed man. The office did not provide details about what type of disturbance officers responded to or who called them.

The sheriff’s office also immediately declined to identify the responding deputies or their race. Officials said earlier this week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local prosecutor’s office will investigate the shooting.

FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told the Associated Press on Wednesday that it was highly unlikely the agency would comment further until the investigation was completed.

Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a special missions aviator, where one of his roles as a member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider aircrew was to load the gunship’s 30mm and 105mm guns during missions.

Fortson’s death bears striking similarities to other Black people killed by police in their homes in recent years, in circumstances where officers responded to the wrong address or responded to calls for help with deliberate use of deadly force.

In 2018, a white former Dallas police officer fatally shot Botham Jean, an unarmed black man, after mistaking his apartment for her own. Amber Guyger, the former officer, was found guilty of murder the following year and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 2019, a white former officer from Fort Worth, Texas, fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home after responding to a non-emergency call reporting that Jefferson’s front door was open. Aaron Dean, the former officer, was found guilty of manslaughter in 2022 and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.

Crump has represented families in both cases as part of his ongoing efforts to exact accountability for police killings of Black people.

“What I try to do, as much as I can, even sometimes on my own, is increase the value of Black lives,” Crump told The Associated Press in 2021 after the conviction of a former Minneapolis officer in George’s killing Floyd.

Fort Walton Beach is located between Panama City Beach and Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle.

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Associated Press reporters Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Aaron Morrison in New York contributed to this story.