In footage obtained by Inside Edition Digital from Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the unnamed deputy arrives at the apartment complex that Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old Black, Senior Airman with the U.S. Airforce lived on the afternoon of May 3.
The newly released police body camera footage in last week’s shooting death a U.S. Airman in Florida who was killed in the doorway of his own home has raised "even more troubling questions," the man's heartbroken family said in a statement.
Footage obtained and reviewed by Inside Edition Digital from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office shows the unnamed deputy arrive at the apartment complex of Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old Senior Airman with the U.S. Airforce, on May 3.
The deputy gets out of his SUV and speaks with a white man, who says he was there to meet the officer, before the deputy walks across the complex, the footage showed. As he is walking, the deputy meets a white woman who says she has been hearing profanities and fighting as well as what she believes was “a slap” coming from what she thinks is apartment 1401.
In the footage, the officer then goes to apartment 1401 and stands at the doorway for a few seconds and knocks, but he doesn’t appear to announce himself. He then walks away from the door and stands next to a wall that puts him out of sight of the apartment.
In the footage, there is inaudible noise coming from inside the apartment. The deputy knocks again and this time says, “Sheriff’s Office, open the door!” He repeats the command and after the door opens, the deputy notices Fortson has a gun in his right hand that is positioned at his hip. The deputy then opens fire.
As the deputy continues shooting what appears to be six rounds at Fortson, who was Black, the deputy screams “Drop the gun!”
Fortson, lying on the ground, says, “It is over there. I don’t have it.”
The deputy then calls for medics before the video, which is four minutes and 21 seconds, cuts out.
Fortson died at a hospital, officials said.
The footage was released along with a statement from Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden. “Here in Okaloosa County, we pride ourselves on our commitment to transparency and accountability," Aden said. "These investigations take time, but I want to assure you that we are not hiding, covering up or taking any action that would result in a rush to judgment of Mr. Fortson or our deputy.
“While it might be difficult to see, there are many questions the investigation must answer before we can determine whether the officer’s actions are justified,” he continued. “We are aware of a press release and other comments that falsely state our deputy entered the wrong apartment and imply that he burst through the door into Mr. Fortson’s residence. Those statements are inaccurate as shown in the video. What we do know at this time is that the deputy announced himself, Mr. Fortson’s comments indicate that he did acknowledge it was law enforcement at his door, and that he arrived at the door with a firearm in his hand. The deputy knocked on the correct door. He did not cover the peephole or otherwise obscure its view.”
Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson’s family, said in a statement to Inside Edition Digital that Fortson was on a FaceTime call with a woman who his family identified as his girlfriend when the deputy knocked on his door.
The unnamed woman heard someone knock on Fortson’s door and that he asked who it was, Crump said. Fortson appeared to not hear a reply, and the knocking became more aggressive, Crump said the woman recalled. It was then that Fortson checked the peephole and retrieved his legally-owned firearm, Crump said.
Crump said the deputy busted through Fortson's door, saw that he was armed and opened fire. But Fortson was not causing a disturbance, the woman said, noting she believed the deputy must have had the wrong apartment, Crump said.
That woman will hold a press conference in the future, Crump said.
Fortson's family has been left with even more questions in the wake of the bodycam footage release, they said in a statement released by Crump.
“In the four-and-a-half minute, heavily redacted video, it is very troubling that the deputy gave no verbal commands and shot multiple times within a split second of the door being opened, killing Roger," the family said. "Despite the redactions, the video has provided some answers, but it’s also raised even more troubling questions: As the officer didn’t tell Roger to drop the weapon before shooting, was the officer trained to give verbal warnings? Did the officer try to initiate life-saving measures? Was the officer trained to deal with law-abiding citizens who are registered gun owners?”
“The girlfriend acknowledges that even though she initially thought the door was forced open by the police that she stands by her emotional recollection of what happened," the statement continued. "To provide transparency into what happened during the FaceTime video with Roger, his girlfriend and her attorney have instructed us that we can release a portion of the FaceTime video that was recorded at the time of this tragedy.
“We remain adamant that the police had the wrong apartment as Roger was on the phone with his girlfriend for a substantial amount of time leading up to the shooting, and no one else was in the apartment," the statement said.
The deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to reports. The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is handling the investigation into the shooting.
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