On Friday, Florida police Deputy Eddie Duran was fired by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s department for fatally shooting U.S. Air Force Senior Airman, Roger Fortson on May 3rd. Fortson had no criminal record and was only 23 years old.
In a news statement released on Friday, the sheriff’s department highlighted that after an internal affairs investigation, Eddie Duran’s “use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable and therefore violated agency policy.”
“This tragic incident should have never occurred,” said Sheriff Eric Aden in the release. “The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson’s actions. Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual.”
At the time of the tragic incident, Duran was responding to a domestic violence call and was directed to the wrong apartment. According to body cam footage and 911 calls obtained by AP News, a female employee of the Fort Walton Beach apartment complex Fortson lived in called in a resident complaint about a loud argument that was “getting out of hand.”
When Duran arrived, the employee told him that she heard loud yelling followed by a slap sound a couple weeks earlier but didn’t report it. She said she wasn’t sure what exact apartment she heard the noises coming from, but when asked a second time, she subsequently gave Fortson’s apartment number on the fourth floor.
Fortson, however, lived alone and did not have any company with him at the time of the incident, nor was there any concerning loud sounds coming from his apartment at the time of Duran’s arrival. The police had never been called to his apartment before. Coincidentally, there was an apartment on the same floor as Fortson that 911 call records show had been reported at least 10 times in the last eight months-including for a disturbance occurrence.
Bodycam footage shows that Duran approached Fortson’s apartment three minutes upon his arrival to the complex. He loudly banged on the door-initially not announcing himself-to which there was no answer. Several seconds later he started knocking again announcing he was a sheriff and demanding for the door to be opened a couple of times until Fortson eventually answered. Fortson was carrying a legally purchased gun at his side pointed to the floor. Not even three seconds after opening the door, Duran shot at Fortson multiple times.
It was only after Duran shot Fortson that he then told the 23 year old active duty member to drop his gun, which was already on the floor. Duran called the paramedics, but Fortson sadly passed away due to gunshot wounds at the hospital. He is survived by his beloved 10 year old sister and 16 year old brother-both of whom he was a strong role model and exemplary big brother to in their lives-his father Keith Vann, mother Chantemekki Fortson and countless loved ones.
Roger Fortson graduated from Ronald McNair High School in Dekalb County, Atlanta in 2019, and went on to pursue his longlife dream by enlisting in the U.S. Air Force that same year. Fortson quickly excelled in the Air Force and became a Senior Airman. Fortson was a gunner on combat model AC-130J. He was awarded a U.S. Air Medal-which is an exceptional accolade-for his ability to complete many flights in a combat zone and also for his tactical thinking during a mission to fix an in-flight emergency.
Fortson was planning on buying a house and a new car for his mother. One of his life objectives was to provide for his family who adore him.
Of course Fortson’s family is suffering the heart wrenching loss of their eldest child. Fortson’s younger brother was reported to be in a “zombie like state” by his father following the news.
At a news conference on May 9, mother Chantemekki Fortson held a picture of her son in uniform and described how special and respectful of a man he was.
“That’s the kind of gift he was,” she said at the conference. “They took something that can never be replaced.”
It’s beyond disheartening, disturbing and infuriating to hear of this wrongful loss of a young Black man. Fortson was an innocent, model American citizen that proudly served for his country and looked out for his loved ones. Duran and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s department should be heavily scrutinized by the public and state officials for this seeming extremely preventable incident. The sheriff’s office initially claimed Duran-who is reportedly hispanic-was acting in self defense, when really this was poor thinking. They also stated in their press release that Duran heard the disturbance himself which was proven to be a downright lie due to the body cam footage.
Whatever motivated Duran to shoot at Fortson was wrong and should be looked into on a larger level to prevent tragedies like this from happening. A mother lost her son. A baby girl and a teenage boy lost their big brother, their hero. The sheriff’s department should be paying homage in whatever way they can to Roger Fortson, a rising U.S. Air Force Senior Airman who had incredible potential. Instead, it seems like they almost tried to defame him and sweep his name under the rug in order to avoid taking accountability for a colossal error in judgment that resulted in the murder of an innocent young man and fellow civil servant.
Acclaimed civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, is representing Fortson’s family amongst other attorneys following the incident.
“The actions of this deputy were not just negligent, they were criminal,” Crump said in a statement on Friday.
“Just as we did for Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, and Breonna Taylor, we will continue to fight for full justice and accountability for Roger Fortson, as well as every other innocent Black man and woman gunned down by law enforcement in the presumed safety of their own home.”
The GoFundMe for Roger Fortson’s family can be accessed here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-roger-fortsons-family
