Mom of slain US airman calls for fired Florida deputy who shot her son to be charged

The mother of Senior Airman Roger Fortson, who was shot and killed by a recently-terminated Florida deputy, says that disciplinary action is not enough.

"I want justice for my child. You're not going to throw me a bone. Take his credentials. Take his pension," Chantemekki Fortson demanded at a news conference on Monday.

"Bring up charges against him. He thought he wasn't going to make it home to his family. Guess what? This one didn't," she said, pointing to a photo of her son.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) has found that Deputy Eddie Duran used deadly force that was "not objectively reasonable." The deputy has been fired, the agency announced on Friday. Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues its investigation into the deadly shooting, according to Northwest Florida Daily News, part of USA TODAY Network.

On May 3, Duran responded to a Fort Walton Beach apartment complex after receiving a call about an apparent disturbance. Until Friday, the former deupty's name had not been released.

Duran's body camera footage shows that he knocked on Fortson's apartment door three times and announced he was with the sheriff's office. Fortson opened the door while holding a gun in his right hand and pointed down. The deputy said, "step back," and then shot Fortson.

"I put everybody out of my house every day to make my house dark to pray that his ghost will come in to just tell me bye. So you think it's justice? There will never be justice for taking my baby," Chantemekki continued.

More:Body of US airman fatally shot by Florida deputy returned to Georgia ahead of funeral

Investigation's findings suggest Duran violated policy

On Friday, the sheriff's office released its 29-page internal affairs investigative report. Capt. Robert Wagner, from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office of Professional Standards, ultimately concluded that Duran's use of deadly force violated policy.

Wagner first references OCSO General Order 04.01-Response to Resistance, which states: “Deadly force shall only be used when the officer reasonably believes that the action is in defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or in defense of any person in imminent danger of serious physical injury.”

This policy references a U.S. Supreme Court precedent established in Graham v. Connor, which notes that police officers are forced to quickly judge how much force is necessary for tense, uncertain, or rapidly evolving situations.

The sheriff's office also found that Duran violated the "response to resistance" order as set out in Section F.2.d of the agency's policies: “Deadly force resistance is a subject’s hostile, attacking movements with or without a weapon that create a reasonable perception by the officer that the subject intends to cause and has the capability of causing death or great bodily harm to the officer or others.” 

According to a news release that accompanied the investigative report, the investigation determined that Fortson did not make any hostile or attacking moves.

Who is former sheriff's Deputy Eddie Duran?

According to the report, Duran received a bachelor's degree in criminal psychology and was "roughly halfway" through a master's degree in human service counseling, focusing on crisis response and trauma.

Duran then served in the Army in 2003 and had one combat deployment to Iraq in 2008. Duran started his military career in military intelligence before moving to law enforcement in 2007. As a military police officer, Duran received training through the Army's Special Reaction Team. He received an honorable discharge in 2014.

After leaving the Army, Duran began his civilian law enforcement career in Oklahoma and served as a police officer and K9 officer from 2015 to 2019, when he moved to Florida and began working at the OCSO.

The report says that after moving away in 2021, Duran returned in 2023 and rejoined the agency.

According to the report, Duran was current on Response to Resistance training, agency firearm qualifications as of 2023 and also received additional training in active assailant training, Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute Discriminatory (FCJEI) Profiling/Human Diversity/Professional Traffic Stops, FCJEI Domestic Violence and active shooter training.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden says it was a 'tragic incident'

Sheriff Eric Aden provided a written statement at the end of the press release.

“This tragic incident should have never occurred,” he said. “The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson’s actions."

"Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual,” the sheriff says. “Our mission at the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is to ensure fair and equal administration of the law, safeguard civil liberties and preserve public safety; doing so with professionalism and unity of purpose, while being good stewards of the public trust.

"As your sheriff, I am committed to this mission and to ensure our deputies adhere to the professional and safety standards that come with the inherent risk of being a first responder who, by the very nature of their calling, must respond to potentially dangerous situations where they cannot know what they are about to encounter. In this case, the former deputy did not meet the standard of objective reasonableness and his use of control to resistance was excessive.

“I want to thank our dedicated team for their around-the-clock effort to ensure a thorough review of the facts here. Since the tragedy occurred, our office has been fully accountable and transparent in its compliance with statutory requirements, providing numerous public statements, making accessible the available body-worn camera footage and other related records, meeting with Mr. Forston’s family and legal counsel, and communicating openly with the U.S. Air Force and our community at-large. We continue to wish Mr. Fortson’s family comfort and peace.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump says his team will 'fight for full justice'

Following the release of the report on Friday, the legal team for the family of Roger Fortson, led by prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, released a written statement.

“The firing of the officer who shot and killed Roger Fortson is a step forward, but it is not full justice for Roger and his family," Crump wrote. "The actions of this deputy were not just negligent, they were criminal. As we’ve stated from the beginning, and as echoed today by Sheriff Aden, Roger was an exceptional airman who did absolutely nothing to warrant being gunned down in his own home.

“While the criminal investigation is still ongoing, we fully anticipate charges to be filed against this officer. The video footage provides damning proof that this was a brutal and senseless killing of a young man who was simply enjoying time alone with his dog while video chatting with his girlfriend.

“Just as we did for Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, and Breonna Taylor, we will continue to fight for full justice and accountability for Roger Fortson, as well as every other innocent Black man and woman gunned down by law enforcement in the presumed safety of their own home.”