Video Shows Deputy Fatally Shooting Black Airman In His Own Home

The Okaloosa Sheriff’s Department placed the officer on administrative leave following the fatal shooting of Roger Fortson.

Florida sheriffs released body camera footage on Thursday showing a deputy fatally shooting Roger Fortson, a Black active-duty airman, inside his own apartment.

Fortson, 23, was shot six times and killed by an unnamed Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy on May 3. Lawyers for Fortson’s family, including civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, had claimed that the deputy who shot Fortson had been sent to the wrong apartment. But at Thursday’s press conference, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden called those claims false.

The Okaloosa Sheriff’s Department said a deputy arrived at Fortson’s apartment complex after a disturbance call. In the body camera footage, a resident walks with the deputy, saying she heard loud noises and arguments coming from Fortson’s apartment, and things sounded like they were “getting out of hand.” She gives him Fortson’s unit number.

After getting off an elevator, the deputy knocks repeatedly on Fortson’s apartment door, but gets no audible response. He then declares he’s with the sheriff’s department and demands Fortson open the door.

Crump said in a statement on Wednesday that Fortson had been on a call video call with his girlfriend at the time. After the deputy knocked, she heard him ask, “Who is it?” according to Crump. Fortson then grabs his gun due to concern for his safety as he was alone in his apartment at the time, attorneys said.