The US airman shot and killed in Florida came from Atlanta

ATLANTA (AP) — A black U.S. Air Force airman who was shot to death by officers in his off-base apartment complex in Florida was from the Atlanta metro area, lawyers said.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old U.S. service member, was fatally shot May 3 after the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said a deputy responded to a call about a disturbance in progress “in self-defense after he had pushed a 23-year-old man armed with a weapon.

11Alive confirmed with attorneys Wednesday evening that Fortson was from Atlanta and graduated from McNair High School in DeKalb County. After graduating, Fortson enlisted in the Air Force, where he was stationed in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field – right near Fort Walton Beach.

Fortson is seen below on graduation day at McNair High School:

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson was having a FaceTime conversation with a woman at the time of the encounter.

According to Crump, the woman, who Crump did not identify, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock on the door. He asked who was there but got no answer. A few minutes later, Fortson heard louder knocking but saw no one when he looked through the peephole, Crump said, citing the woman’s account.

The woman said Fortson was concerned and picked up 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 was lying on the ground and saying, “I can’t breathe” after he was shot, Crump said.

Fortson died at a hospital, officials said. The deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

The woman said Fortson did not cause a disturbance during her FaceTime call and assumed the officers had been at the wrong apartment, Crump’s statement said.

“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 body camera 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 cases of police shootings involving Black people, including the cases 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 did not immediately respond to an email or voicemail from The Associated Press seeking comment on Crump’s claims. But Sheriff Eric Aden released a statement on Facebook Wednesday afternoon expressing sadness over the shooting.

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

When the sheriff’s office said last week that the deputy responded in self-defense after encountering an armed man, the office did not say what type of disturbance the officers were responding to or who called them.

The sheriff’s office also declined to immediately identify the responding officers or their origins. 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 provide further comment until the investigation was complete.

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.