Attorney, Family of Black Airman Fatally Shot by Florida Deputies Say He Was a Patriot

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The mother of a Black U.S. Air Force airman who was fatally shot by deputies who burst into his apartment in the Florida Panhandle began crying while listening to her family’s attorney recount the death of her son.

“My baby was shot up,” said Chantimekki Fortson at a news conference on Thursday in Fort Walton Beach, where her son, Senior Airmen Roger Fortson, was living when he was killed.

The family’s attorney, Ben Crump, said that Senior Airmen Roger Fortson said Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputies responding to a disturbance call at the apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot Fortson when they saw he was armed with a gun.

“For whatever reason, they thought he was a bad guy, but he was a good guy. He was a great guy. He was an exceptional guy,” Crump said. “They took a patriot from us.”

Crump, a noted civil rights attorney, called the shooting “an unjustifiable killing” and said the sheriff’s office needed to own up to it instead of creating a counter-narrative that deputies were acting in self-defense.

The sheriff’s office has declined to identify the responding deputies or their races. Officials have said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local State Attorney’s Office will investigate the shooting.

Crump said Fortson had always wanted to join the U.S. Air Force and enlisted after graduating high school. Fortson was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field.

“He was living his dream. By doing so, he was going to make it better for his mother and siblings so they could have a better chance at the American dream,” Crump said.

Fortson was home alone and on a Facetime call with a friend when deputies arrived, Crump said.

According to Crump, the woman, whom the attorney didn’t identify, said Fortson heard a knock at the door. He asked who was there but didn’t get a response. A few minutes later, Fortson heard a louder knock but didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, Crump said, citing the woman’s account.

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

As Fortson walked back through his living room, deputies burst through the door, saw that Fortson was armed and shot him six times, Crump said.

Fortson died at a hospital, officials said. The deputy who shot him was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Crump, based in Tallahassee, Florida, has been involved in multiple high-profile law enforcement shooting cases involving Black people, including those of Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Tyre Nichols, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who was also killed in her home during a no-knock police raid that targeted her ex-boyfriend in 2020.

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

“At this time, we humbly ask for our community’s patience as we work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event,” Aden said.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement last week that a deputy responding to a call of a disturbance in progress at the apartment complex reacted in self-defense after encountering an armed man. The office did not offer details on what kind of disturbance deputies were responding to or who called them.

FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it is unlikely the agency will have any further comment until the investigation is complete.

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 cannons during missions.

Fortson’s death draws striking similarities to other Black people killed in recent years by police in their homes, in circumstances that involved officers responding to the wrong address or responding to service calls with wanton uses of deadly force.

In 2018, a white former Dallas police officer fatally shot Botham Jean, who was unarmed, after mistaking his apartment for her own. Amber Guyger, the former officer, was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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

Crump represented families in both cases as part of his effort to force accountability for the killings of Black people at the hands of police.

In November 2023, an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy mistook the sound of an acorn hitting his patrol vehicle for a gunshot and fired multiple times at the SUV where a handcuffed Black man was sitting in the backseat. Sheriff’s officials said the man, who was being questioned about stealing his girlfriend’s car, was not injured. He was taken into custody, but released without being charged. The officer who initiated the shooting resigned.

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Schneider reported from Orlando, Fla.