The family of U.S. Airman Roger Fortson demanded answers Thursday about lingering questions over why he was killed by an Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy.
Fortson, 23, served as an AC-130J Ghostrider gunner with the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field in Fort Walton Beach. He was shot six times by a deputy after a call about a disturbance led the officer to the 23-year-old’s off-base apartment.
Citing “new evidence,” the family attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, held a press conference Thursday, pointing to inconsistencies in the sheriff’s version of what happened, maintaining that the deputy who shot Fortson went to the wrong apartment at the Fort Walton Beach complex.
Crump replayed the audio of the police bodycam video, where an unidentified woman at the apartment complex told the deputy about a loud domestic disturbance, but twice said that she was “not sure” where the noise was coming from. After she was asked a third time, she said unit 1401, which was Fortson’s unit.
Sheriff’s records obtained by the Miami Herald on Thursday show that in the 17 months prior to the shooting, there were no calls, complaints or incidents at Fortson’s unit. However, another unit — 1412 — had repeated domestic calls, including a “battery,” several welfare checks and an EMS call for a “hemorrhage” at the unit. Deputies were called 10 times to 1412 since August 2023, records show. It’s not clear from the records whether that unit is in the same building as Fortson’s, but no other unit in the complex had as many complaints.
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The sheriff, Eric Alden, has not released the name of the deputy who was involved. The deputy is on administrative leave and the investigation is being handled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Crump also played excerpts from police radio dispatches. In it, a dispatcher reports “Uh, we don’t have further information other than a male and a female. That’s all fourth-party information from the front desk.”
The deputy’s bodycam video, portions of which are blurred out, show him walking down the hallway on the fourth floor. The hallway is quiet except for the sounds of birds chirping. There is no sound of a disturbance or any noise other than a dog barking in the background.
The deputy pounds on the door without identifying himself, then steps to the side, out of the view of the door’s peephole, and waits. He then pounds harder on the door, announcing “Sheriff’s Office! Open the Door!” two times. The door opens, and a half-second elapses before Fortson comes into view, his face blurred. He is holding a gun in his right hand pointed directly at the floor. His little dog Chloe, a white Maltese, is at his other side.
Almost immediately, the deputy shouts “step back” and fires six rounds. Fortson was pronounced dead at the hospital.
There was no one else in the apartment.
“We just think it’s excessive force on top of him being at the wrong apartment,” Crump said. He said the family intends to pressure authorities to investigate the case in a timely manner, and to not let Fortson’s death be forgotten.
The Sheriff’s office declined to comment, referring all calls to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which also declined comment.
On Wednesday, Fortson’s body was escorted by military honor guard from Florida to Atlanta, where his family lives. A full military funeral is planned for Friday.
On social media, photos from outside Fortson’s Florida apartment showed flowers, an open beer, combat boots, an American flag and other mementos by his door.
According to the military, Fortson received the Air Force Achievement Medal and an Air Medal with a ‘C’ Device, indicating service or achievement performed under combat conditions. He was deployed to Southwest Asia in mid-2023, where he earned the Air Medal, according to the Air Force. In a statement, First Special Operations Wing Commander Col. Patrick Dierig called Fortson a “proven combat veteran and an incredible teammate. His loss is felt throughout the 4th Special Operations Squadron, the 73d Special Operations Squadron and the entirety of our wing.”