Family of Roger Fortson press for charges against officer involved in airman’s death

Three months after a police officer shot and killed Roger Fortson, an airman in the U.S. Air Force, his family and prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump held a press conference in Florida demanding that the officer face charges. 

“For Black people in America, when they delay, delay, delay, that tells us they’re trying to sweep it under the rug,” Crump said, according to The Associated Press. “It ain’t no mystery what happened.”

He added that prosecutors are expected to make an announcement about potential charges on Aug. 23. 

“Mark your calendars, brothers and sisters, mark your calendars,” Crump said, per the AP.

“To the state’s attorney, you got everything you need,” he added. “The only question is, are you going to do it?”

Forston’s mother, Chantemekki Forston, also called on prosecutors “to do the right thing.” 

“My child rescued people within a split second,” she said. “Look how long it’s taking America to rescue him.”

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran shot and killed Forston, 23, in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., on May 23. The airman was holding a handgun when police entered his apartment. Duran fired about six shots after seeing the firearm, killing the U.S. airman within seconds, according to the body camera footage. 

Sheriff Eric Aden dismissed Duran from the force, saying that his life was never in danger and that he should not have fired his weapon after an internal affairs investigation concluded that Forston “did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore, the former deputy’s use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable.”

An employee of the apartment complex called the sheriff’s office, saying a resident had reported a loud argument that had been going on for 20 minutes. Loud arguments were common in Forston’s unit. 

The sheriff’s office asked the employee to walk by the home and he reported that nothing was heard, but a sheriff’s deputy arrived minutes later. Forston was reported to be alone in his unit, and his girlfriend has said that they were having a normal video conversation when the deputy began pounding on his door. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who represents the area the airman lived in, also said the footage shows Fortson did nothing wrong.

“One thing is clear from the body cam and should be stated unequivocally: Roger did not deserve to die,” Gaetz said in a statement, shared on social media platform X, following the incident. “He did nothing wrong.”

In May, Crump and Forston’s family called on the state to be transparent in their investigation, and they doubled down on those calls during Friday’s press conference, questioning why it was taking prosecutors so long to decide on charges. 

The Congressional Black Caucus has also condemned the shooting and called for “immediate justice.” 

“The public trust has been damaged, and the life of a young Black man was taken unjustly,” the CBC released in a statement in May. 

“The CBC is calling for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to release the findings of their investigation and additional information to the family and community who are hurting and calling for immediate justice and accountability for those involved.”

The Associated Press contributed.