The Florida Sheriff’s Office has released body camera video showing a deputy shooting and killing a 23-year-old American pilot.
Body camera footage released by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office shows a deputy responding to a disturbance call on May 3 at the apartment of Senior Airman Roger Fortson.
Video shows the officer arriving at a Fort Walton Beach apartment complex and talking to a woman outside who described hearing an argument. The adjutant then climbed into the elevator and walked down the outdoor corridor.
In the video, a deputy can be seen knocking on Fordson’s apartment and announcing he was at the Sheriff’s Office.
“Sheriff’s Office, open the door,” the officer said. “Get out.”
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U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, died Friday, May 3. (Halbert Field)
Shortly after Fordson opened the apartment door, the deputy pointed his gun downward and shot him.
“Put the gun down, put the gun down,” the officer said.
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“I didn’t,” Fordson said.
After the shooting, the deputy told Fordson not to move and then called emergency medical services over the radio before the video ended.
On May 3, Roger Fortson was shot and killed in his apartment in Florida. (Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office)
At a news conference, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Yarden told reporters it was “painful” for him to be shown the footage.
“It pains me to show this video, but I know you all need to see it,” he said.
Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Fordson’s family, accused the deputy of walking into the wrong apartment and said the shooting was unjustified.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said Friday afternoon “our deputy received a call that a disturbance was in progress and he encountered an armed man” who was shot by the deputy. (Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Crump said the 23-year-old man was flown with dignity by the Air Force to Hatfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
His family is preparing for his funeral on Friday at New Life Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia.
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Fordson was stationed at Hurlburt Field and assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron.
Hurlbert Field posted on Facebook that he was assigned as a gunner on an AC-130J and received the Air Medal with Combat Apparatus
