A Florida deputy is accused of shooting and killing a Black Air Force airman without cause.
Florida police shot and killed a Black U.S. Air Force member Friday (May 3). The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday that the officer “reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun.”
But was the officer even supposed to be there?
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said in a press conference Wednesday that 23-year-old Senior Airman Roger Fortson was at home alone when someone aggressively knocked on the door without announcement.
Luckily, he had a witness: a friend on FaceTime, who also heard the knocking. While on the call, Crump said the person on the line heard Fortson call out to ask who it was. When he got no response, he decided to take measures to secure his safety.
“Concerned, he did what any other law-abiding citizen would do and retrieved his legally-owned gun, but as he was walking back to the living room, police burst through the door. When they saw the gun, they shot Roger six times,” Crump said in the conference.
Read more from NBC News:
As Fortson walked back through his living room, deputies burst through the door, saw that Fortson was armed and shot him six times, according to Crump’s statement. The woman said Fortson was on the ground, saying, “I can’t breathe,” after he was shot, Crump said.
Fortson died at a hospital, officials said. The deputy involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
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.
Doesn’t this remind you of something? The nation was in an outrage following the shooting and killing of Amir Locke, who was sleeping with his licensed firearm next to him when Minneapolis SWAT officers burst through the home, Upon seeing the firearm, one officer shot at him as he laid on the couch. Body cam footage showed he didn’t even have it in hand.
Crump and Fortson’s family demand the immediate release of the body camera footage related to the incident. The police department asked for the community’s patience in the investigation into what happened.
