Mother of US airman calls for justice after he was killed by deputy in his own home

A mother mourns the loss of her son and calls for justice after he was killed by Florida police officers.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was at his home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, when he was shot and killed by an Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputy on May 3.

“He was trying to show me things that the people who raised me were supposed to show me when I was a kid,” Chantemekki Fortson, Roger Fortson's mother, said at a news conference Thursday. “So to the sheriff's department who took my gift…I need you to tell the truth about my son. I need you to have a good name, if you have a heart, if you have a niece or a nephew, any young person in your life, tell the truth about my son.

The officer responsible for the fatal incident was responding to a call about a disturbance around 4:30 p.m., according to a news release released by the Oklahoosa County Sheriff's Office.

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Sheriff Eric Aden of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office released body camera footage of the deputy who shot Fortson during a news conference after the news conference with Fortson's family. In the video, the deputy can be heard announcing twice that he is at the sheriff's office. Fortson can then be seen opening the door for the deputy with what appears to be a gun in his hand. The officer shot Fortson seconds after the door opened. Fortson later succumbed to his injuries, according to the sheriff's office.

“Hearing noises of disturbance, he reacted in self-defense after encountering a 23-year-old man armed with a firearm,” according to a press release from the sheriff’s office. “[This was] after the deputy identified himself as law enforcement.”

The deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the district attorney's office will conduct their own investigations, according to the sheriff's office.

On Thursday afternoon, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in an on-camera statement that Secretary Austin was following the matter closely. “First of all, the secretary is following this closely. And I would like to offer our thoughts and prayers to the Fortson Airmen family,” Ryder said. “We are of course saddened by the loss of one of our own. I know his death is currently under investigation.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump was also at the news conference Thursday with Fortson's family and spoke about Fortson's character.

“He graduated from high school in Atlanta, Georgia,” Crump said. “He dreamed of becoming a pilot. He had always wanted to serve in the United States Air Force and he was living his dream. And in doing so, he would improve the lives of his mother, his siblings and his family. , so they can have a better chance of achieving the American dream.”

Fortson was on a call with his girlfriend when he heard a knock at the door, according to Crump. When he asked who it was, he heard no answer and could not see through the peephole. He told his girlfriend it looked like someone was covering him from the other side, according to Crump.

Someone again knocked on the door aggressively, so Fortson allegedly retrieved his legal firearm and when he returned to the hallway to his front door, officers broke down the door and shot him six times, Crump said.

The FDLE confirmed to ABC News that it is investigating the shooting involving the deputy.

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“FDLE use of force cases are independent fact-finding investigations. The results are forwarded to the State Attorney's Office to determine what action to take,” FDLE told ABC News in a statement . “As this investigation is active, we have no additional information to provide at this time.”

Fortson's family nor his attorneys saw the body camera footage before their news conference.

Hulburt Field Air Force Base, where Fortson was stationed, said in a statement regarding the shooting that Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron and entered active duty on Nov. 19, 2019.

“The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is the lead investigating agency for this incident,” according to Hurlburt Field in the release. “To protect the integrity of the investigation, no further information will be released at this time. The priorities of the 1st Special Operations Wing are to provide services to the victims' families, support the squadron during this tragic time and to ensure resources are available to all those impacted.”

Neither the state's attorney nor the coroner's office immediately responded to ABC News' request for comment.

Mother of US airman calls for justice after he was killed by deputy in his own home, originally published on abcnews.go.com