Airman killed by police responding to wrong apartment: lawyer

A black U.S. Air Force airman was fatally shot in his home by Florida officers who accidentally entered the wrong apartment while responding to a disturbance call, according to his family’s attorney.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, stationed in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment at Fort Walton Beach when he was shot by police officers on Friday. He was having a FaceTime conversation with an unnamed woman at the time, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement Wednesday.

Citing her account of the confrontation, Crump said Fortson, 23, was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock on his door, prompting him to call out and ask who was there. He received no answer, although a short time later there was another knock, louder and more forceful. This time, Fortson checked the peephole but saw no one on the other side, the unidentified woman recalled. Still, he was worried and picked up his gun, which Crump said was legally his.

When Fortson returned, officers burst into his apartment, saw he 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 hit by the gunfire, the civil rights attorney noted.

Fortson later died in hospital. The officer who shot him has since been placed on administrative leave.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that the deputy was responding to a call about a disturbance in progress and “responded in self-defense after encountering a 23-year-old male armed with a weapon.” The officer’s name was not released.

Fortson’s Facetime partner emphasized that the airman did not cause any problems or act combative during his call. She believes officers were supposed to respond elsewhere in the residence, but instead entered Fortson’s unit.

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

“We demand transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of bodycam videos to the family,” he continued. “His family and the public deserve to know what happened in the moments leading up to this tragedy.”

Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a Special Operations Airman, where one of his duties as a member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider crew was to load the attack helicopter’s 30mm and 105mm cannons during missions.

With News Wire Services