Florida deputies who fatally shot US airman burst into wrong apartment, attorney says

MIAMI– Officers responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot a black U.S. Air Force pilot who was home alone when they saw he was armed with a handgun, an attorney for the family said. man Wednesday.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was stationed with the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach when the May 3 shooting occurred.

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 did not identify Crump, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he 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 in the statement.

“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.

Crump and Fortson’s family plans to speak at a news conference Thursday morning in Fort Walton Beach.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement last week that a deputy responding to a call about a disturbance at the apartment complex responded 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. The office did not respond to an email or phone message Wednesday. 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.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond Wednesday to an email or voicemail seeking comment from The Associated Press.

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

____

Associated Press reporter Curt Anderson contributed to this story from St. Petersburg, Florida.