Black airman shot to death by a Florida deputy who blitzed wrong apartment: attorneys

A Black U.S. Air Force airman was on the phone with his girlfriend one afternoon when he heard someone pounding on the door of his apartment in the Florida Panhandle.

After looking through the peephole and noticing that it was covered, he grabbed his gun — and a sheriff’s deputy responding to a disturbance call stormed inside, attorneys say. His girlfriend listened in as he was shot six times.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was killed May 3 in his off-base Fort Walton Beach apartment by a deputy with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department. Fort Walton Beach is located between Pensacola and Panama City.



Fortson was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, located just outside Fort Walton Beach.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who’s on the team representing Fortson’s family, said a deputy was responding to a disturbance call at the apartment complex when they entered the wrong unit. Crump, based in Tallahassee, has been involved in several high-profile cases in which Black people were killed at the hands of law enforcement — including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Fortson’s death shares similarities to those of other Black people killed by police while inside their homes.



In 2020, as Black Lives Matter protests shook the U.S., Taylor was killed in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment when police executed a no-knock search warrant targeting her ex-boyfriend. Two years before, a white Dallas police officer gunned down Botham Jean, who didn’t have a gun on him, after mistaking his apartment for her own.

“Everyone should be troubled by this,” Crump said during a news conference Thursday. “Any law-abiding citizen who feels they have a right to the Fourth Amendment and Second Amendment should be very troubled by this matter.”

Holding a frame with a photo of her 23-year-old son, Meka Fortson broke down as Crump demanded answers. The attorney urged the sheriff’s office to “do the right thing” and respect Fortson’s name and legacy.

“They took my son,” she said, her voice muffled as she sobbed.

Meka Fortson recounted the day she found out that something happened to her son. She said she rushed to the hospital to see him, and when she entered his hospital room, three men in Air Force uniforms and a black folder with a pen.

“That’s when I knew,” she said.

A fatal mistake?

Attorneys know what happened during — and leading up — to the shooting, because Fortson’s girlfriend witnessed it from a FaceTime call, Crump said.

Earlier that day, Fortson had been playing video games with friends from the Air Force, Crump said. When he arrived home about 30 minutes before the shooting, he called his girlfriend, as he routinely did.

Around 4:30 p.m., Fortson heard someone knocking on his door, and he asked who it was, Crump said. He didn’t hear a reply, so he looked out of the peephole, but didn’t see anything because it appeared to be covered.

Not knowing who was behind the door, Fortson grabbed his gun, which Crump says was legally obtained.

Fortson’s girlfriend, the attorney said, then heard the deputy kick the door — and multiple shots ring out. She overheard the deputy walking through the apartment and announcing his presence.

At that point, Fortson was on the ground, struggling to breathe, according to Crump. He had been shot six times, bullets hitting him on the chest and left arm.

At a news conference Thursday, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said he met with Fortson’s family earlier that day. He noted there are “many questions the investigations must answer” before it determines whether the deputy’s actions were justified.



The deputy, whose name hasn’t been released, was placed on administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting.

Aden, however, said the deputy didn’t enter the wrong apartment.



“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 forearm in his hand,” Aden said. “The deputy knocked on the correct door. He did not cover the peephole or otherwise obscure its view.”

The sheriff also urged that the agency isn’t covering up or taking any action that “would result in a rush to judgment of Mr. Fortson or our deputy.”

“I told Mr. Fortson’s family this afternoon that they have my word,” he said. “If the shooting is found to be unjustified, their son’s name will be fully vindicated.”

Footage captures final moments

Crump, however, contended the deputy knocked on several doors before they burst into the wrong apartment, killing Fortson.

Body camera footage released by the sheriff’s office reveals that the deputy was called to the complex due to a reported disturbance involving a woman in apartment 1401.

The deputy went up the elevator and walked over to the front of the unit, according to four minutes of footage. He knocked on the door, moving over to the side.

A dog could be heard barking, but no one answered the door, the video shows. The deputy, for the second time, moved away to the other side of the wall.



Seconds later, the deputy knocked again and announced that he was with the sheriff’s office, according to the footage. Fortson — holding a gun that was pointed downward — opened the door.

The deputy ordered Fortson to step back, but immediately shot the airman several times, the video captures. Fortson collapsed, and a small dog ran away amid the hail of bullets.

“Drop the gun,” the deputy shouted.

“It’s over there,” Fortson replied. “I don’t have it.”



Over his radio, the deputy announced that he fired his weapon and called for emergency medical services. He told Fortson — who was on the floor — not to move. Seconds later, the footage ended.

‘The best America had to offer’

In a camouflage-printed dress, Meka Fortson reminisced about her son, who she called a gift. Affectionately nicknamed “Mr. Make-it-happen,” Fortson enlisted after graduating from high school in Atlanta with the dream of becoming a pilot.

Fortson, she said, was a role model to his four brothers and sisters. He was a quiet kid who blossomed in the Air Force and always sought to take care of his family. He came back to the U.S. from Kuwait, where he was serving, after his mother was hit by a truck in October.

Fortson’s death has left his loved ones in shambles, Crump said. Fellow service members have reached out to the Fortsons to express how special he was to them.

Fortson, Crump added, was “the best America had to offer.” He served in the military, respected authority and was a responsible gun owner.

“Look at that picture. Just look at that picture,” Crump said. “If that doesn’t say patriot, I don’t know what does.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Trayvon Martin was killed by law enforcement. He was not. He was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman.