Florida deputy who fatally shot U.S. airman is fired following internal investigation
A sheriff's deputy who fatally shot a Florida airman at his apartment earlier this month has been fired, authorities announced Friday.
Deputy Eddie Duran was "terminated" following an investigation by internal affairs, the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office reported in a news release.
The investigation determined that Duran's "use of deadly force" in the shooting death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson "was not objectively reasonable and therefore violated agency policy," the sheriff's office said.
"The firing of the officer who shot and killed Roger Fortson is a step forward, but it is not full justice for Roger and his family. The actions of this deputy were not just negligent, they were criminal," family attorney Ben Crump said in a Friday evening statement. "While the criminal investigation is still ongoing, we fully anticipate charges to be filed against this officer. The video footage provides damning proof that this was a brutal and senseless killing of a young man who was simply enjoying time alone with his dog while video chatting with his girlfriend."
On May 3, the 23-year-old Fortson was in his apartment in the Florida Panhandle city of Fort Walton Beach when he was fatally shot by Duran. Fortson was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, about five miles from his apartment.
Sheriff's investigators determined that Duran had initially been dispatched to an "in-progress physical disturbance" at Fortson's apartment complex, the sheriff's office said in its news release Friday.
The sheriff's office says that when Duran arrived at the complex, he was directed by a complex employee to unit 1401, where the employee stated was "the location of the disturbance," and added that "there had been recent unreported disturbances at or around the same apartment," the sheriff's office reported.
A statement previously released by the family, however, contradicts that assertion, claiming that Fortson was on a FaceTime call with his girlfriend leading up to the shooting, and alleged that the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment.
Body camera video released by the sheriff's office earlier this month showed a deputy knocking on the door of Fortson's apartment and announcing he was with the sheriff's office. When the door opens, the deputy yells for Fortson to step back.
In the bodycam video, the deputy initially knocks without announcing himself. About 30 seconds later, he knocks again, saying he's with the sheriff's office and to open the door. He knocks and announces himself approximately 10 seconds later. Within seconds of Fortson opening the door, the deputy shoots Fortson, who is seen holding what appears to be a handgun at his side.
Crump previously stated in a news conference that Fortson was on FaceTime with his girlfriend and went to retrieve his legally owned gun after hearing the knock on the door and not hearing who was there.
Crump's firm also previously released a video of the FaceTime call that appears to start after the shooting, showing the ceiling of Fortson's apartment.
"I can't breathe," Fortson says in the video while groaning.
Sheriff's investigators allege that when Fortson opened the door, Duran saw Fortson "holding a firearm in his right hand," but that the gun "was pointed at the ground sufficiently enough for the former deputy to clearly see the rear face of the rear sight."
Fortson "did not physically resist" Duran "in any way, and the investigation concluded that Mr. Forston did not point the gun in the former deputy's direction," the sheriff's office said Friday.
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said in a statement Friday that "this tragic incident should have never occurred. 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."
— Alex Sundby contributed to this report.