Roger Fortson, a senior airman with the U.S. Air Force since 2019, died on May 3 in his apartment just five miles from his airbase after a deputy sheriff shot him while responding to a service call, CBS News reported.
A 23-year-old U.S. airman stationed in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida, was shot and killed earlier this month after his family’s attorney says police entered the wrong apartment and opened fire, according to reports.
Roger Fortson, a senior airman with the U.S. Air Force since 2019, died on May 3 in his apartment just five miles from his airbase after a deputy sheriff shot him while responding to a service call, CBS News reported.
Police earlier said the deputy reacted in self-defense after he saw Fortson armed with a gun, BBC reported.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the victim's family, said in a statement that Fortson was on a FaceTime call with a woman at the time of the encounter, CBS News said.
While Crump did not identify the woman, he said she heard the encounter when someone knocked on Fortson’s door and he asked who it was, when no one replied, the attorney says the knocking got more aggressive and the victim checked the peephole and when he did not see anything, he got his legally owned firearm, CBS News said.
Crump says authorities busted through his door, saw Fortson armed and opened fire, CBS News reported.
Fortson reportedly was on the ground, saying, "I can't breathe," after he was shot, Crump said, according to CBS News.
Fortson died at a hospital, officials said.
The deputy involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to reports.
The woman said Fortson wasn't causing a disturbance during their FaceTime call and believes that the deputies must have had the wrong apartment, Crump's statement said, according to CBS News.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to Ben Crump for comment and has not heard back.
The officer was with the Okaloosa County Sheriff Department. Inside Edition Digital has reached out to Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden for comment and has not heard back.
Aden told reporters Wednesday, "At this time, we humbly ask for our community's patience as we work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event.”
The incident is now being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office, Sheriff Aden added.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office for comment and has not heard back.
"The circumstances surrounding Roger's death raise serious questions that demand immediate answers from authorities," Crump said in a statement obtained by BBC.
Police are yet to respond to his statement, he says, according to BBC.
“We are calling for transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of body cam video to the family,” Crump said in his statement obtained by WESH. “His family and the public deserve to know what occurred in the moments leading up to this tragedy.”
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Crump called Fortson “a patriot,” and “the best America had to offer” who “always dreamed of serving in the U.S. Air Force and he was living his dream and by doing so he was going to make it better for his mother and his family so they could have their chance at the American Dream.”
Crump also took to Instagram and made multiple posts about Fortson, including candid shots of him with his family.
“This is Roger Fortson and his little sister. Roger bought her the flight suit so they could match. These pictures perfectly show her love and admiration for her big brother. A love his WHOLE family shared — still there, but now tainted by the brutal nature of his needless death,” Crump wrote on Instagram.
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