Air Force honors ‘exceptional’ airman killed in police shooting in Florida

Senior Airman Ayanna Dickerson hugs Senior Airman Roger Fortson’s mother after singing the national anthem during a memorial service at Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 20, 2024. (Alex Stephens/U.S. Air Force)

Senior Airman Collin Courtney stood in a crowded aircraft hangar at Hurlburt Field and told the audience that his friend, fallen Senior Airman Roger Fortson, was made an AC-130 gunner.

Fortson was confident, caring and an exceptionally quick learner, Courtney said Monday at a memorial service at the Florida Air Force base honoring the late airman who was killed May 3 in a police shooting at his off-post home.

During his training as a gunner on the AC-130J Ghostrider special operations helicopter, Fortson once grabbed a fire extinguisher from the aircraft and handed it to his examiner, who was about to quiz him on a series of difficult questions about the aircraft’s various weapons systems, Courtney recalled. The examiner stared at Fortson in confusion.

“Roger said without hesitation, ‘You’re going to need this because I’m going to be on fire today to answer these questions,'” Courtney told the gathering of his colleague from the Air Force’s 4th Special Operations Squadron.

Hundreds of friends, family and Airmen gather for Senior Airman Roger Fortson’s memorial service May 20, 2024, at Hurlburt Field, Florida. (Alex Stephens/U.S. Air Force)

Fortson, 23, was respected by those who served alongside him and trained him, said Capt. Malcom Lee, an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship check pilot with the 4th SOS.

Lee said the fallen special airman received the “highest rating possible” on his first AC-130 evaluation flight. He was a gifted athlete and student, Lee said.

“Roger can be summed up by the word extraordinary,” he told the crowd at Hurlburt, which included hundreds of uniformed airmen, Fortson’s mother and father and 14 other members of his family. “Everything about him was extraordinary … and he was an extraordinary special aviator.”

Monday’s Air Force service came three days after Fortson’s memorial service at a church in Stonecrest, Georgia, east of his hometown of Atlanta. Fortson’s funeral, attended by hundreds, was described as a “sea of ​​Air Force blue” by Col. Patrick Dierig, who commands the Air Force’s 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field. Dierig praised Fortson’s family for producing a “great human being” who would become a “great Air Commando and a great pilot.”

“If you want to be a great Airman, you must first be a great human being,” Dierig said. “And Senior Airman Fortson did just that.”

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Flossi and Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, Air Force special operations commander, salute during the playing of the national anthem at Senior Airman Roger Fortson’s memorial service at Hurlburt Field, Fla., May 20, 2024. (Alex Stephens/U.S Air Force)

Fortson’s family was presented with the Air and Space Commendation Medal, awarded posthumously to the late airman for his meritorious service while serving with the 4th SOS.

Monday’s ceremony was the latest example of the Air Force and its special operations forces standing up for Fortson, whose killing is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Fortson’s family and their attorneys have called the shooting by an Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy unjustified. The officer who shot Fortson has not yet been identified.

A pastor who presided over Fortson’s funeral went further, describing the killing as the murder of a black man by a police officer.

“We have to call it what it is — Roger died by murder,” the Rev. Jamal Bryant said during the funeral. “He died by cold murder. And someone needs to be held accountable.

“Roger was better for America than America was for Roger.”

Hundreds of friends, family and Airmen gather for the funeral of Senior Airman Roger Fortson at Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 20, 2024. Senior Airman Fortson was 23 years old when he was shot in an Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy-involved shooting at his off-base apartment on May 3, 2024. (Alex Stephens/U.S. Air Force)

Body camera footage of Fortson’s shooting released by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department shows the airman opening the door of his Fort Walton Beach apartment while pointing his lawfully held handgun. The deputy shouted “step back” and immediately fired six shots at Fortson as the door opened, the footage showed.

Only after he fired those shots did the deputy order Fortson to “drop the weapon,” the video showed.

An attorney for Fortson’s family, Donald Crump, said the deputy went to the wrong apartment to investigate a possible domestic dispute before shooting Fortson. Crump told reporters earlier this month that Fortson was home alone when he was shot. Crump said he was talking on the phone with his girlfriend when he heard someone outside his apartment and reached for his gun shortly before the shooting.

Officials with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department said the deputy shot Fortson in self-defense. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated by state law enforcement and the district attorney’s office, officials said.

Air Force Senior Airman Collin Courtney, a 73rd Special Operations Squadron special airman, shares memories of Senior Airman Roger Fortson during a memorial service at Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 20, 2024. (Alex Stephens/US Air Force)