An attorney representing the family of a black U.S. Air Force airman killed by Florida deputies said authorities raided the wrong apartment when he was fatally shot, the Associated Press reports. Newsweek and NBC News.
Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was based at Hurlburt Field, was fatally shot May 3 at his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. An Air Force spokesman told Task and Purpose that he was a special missions airman assigned to an AC-130J Gunship of the 4th Special Operations Squadron.
“We seek accountability for those responsible for his death,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson’s family, said. it is stated in the press release on Wednesday, May 8.
Crump is a prominent civil rights trial attorney in the US and has represented the families of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Breonna Taylor, as well as residents of Flint, Mich.
Crump said in a statement that Fortson was on Facetime with a woman at the time of the fatal incident. The woman, who has not been publicly identified, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock on his door, according to Crump.
Crump added that according to the woman’s statement, Forston asked who was knocking, but did not get an answer. A few minutes later he heard a louder knock and looked around for people, but saw no one.
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Ben Crump in New York, Wednesday, February 21, 2024.
AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey
She then said the victim became concerned and retrieved his gun — which Crump said Fortson legally owned.
After he walked from the door to his living room, deputies burst through the door and saw he was armed and shot him six times, Crump said. Fortson fell to the ground and said, “I can’t breathe,” the woman said, according to Crump.
He later died at a hospital, according to Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden in a Tuesday, May 7 news release. Additionally, the deputy who shot Fortson has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
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Crump said the woman reports Fortson was not causing a disturbance and as a result she believes deputies had the wrong apartment.
“The circumstances surrounding Roger’s death raise serious questions that require immediate responses from authorities, especially given the alarming witness statement that police entered the wrong apartment,” Crump said in his statement.
“We are calling for transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of the body camera video to the family,” Crump said. “His family and the public deserve to know what happened in the moments leading up to this tragedy.”
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Senior Airman Roger Fortson.
US Air Force via AP
In a May 7 statement, Sheriff Aden also asked “the community for patience [they] work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event.” He confirmed that deputies responded to an alarm call on May 3 and reacted in self-defense after encountering an armed man.
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Representatives from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and Crump did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Wednesday.
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