Florida Police Officer Arrested and Charged in Fatal Shooting of 23-Year-Old Airman Roger Fortson

Fortson answered the door holding a legally owned handgun at his side. Within three seconds, a police officer shot him six times.

The former Florida Panhandle police officer who shot and killed Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old Air Force service member, earlier this year has been charged with manslaughter and arrested, the Associated Press reported.

State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden's office announced Friday it had filed charges against former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran, 38, for manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 killing of Fortson. The A.P. reported that Duran turned himself in and was booked into jail on Monday.

Fortson was fatally shot after Duran arrived at his apartment complex in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, responding to a call about an alleged domestic disturbance. Duran knocked on Fortson's door, and Fortson opened it while holding a legally owned handgun at his side.

"This decision marks the first step towards justice for the family of Roger Fortson," Benjamin Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney representing Fortson's family, said in a statement to local media. "Nothing can ever bring Roger back, and our fight is far from over, but we are hopeful that this arrest and these charges will result in real justice for the Fortson family. Let this be a reminder to law enforcement officers everywhere that they swore a solemn oath to protect and defend, and their actions have consequences, especially when it results in the loss of life."

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office initially framed the fatal shooting as self-defense: "Hearing sounds of a disturbance, he reacted in self defense after he encountered a 23-year old man armed with a gun and after the deputy had identified himself as law enforcement," a May 4 statement from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office read.

However, body camera footage released by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office shows the deputy knocking on Fortson's door and announcing himself several times. Fortson eventually opened the door, holding a handgun at his side. The officer said "step back" and immediately began firing. Fortson only had time to raise his empty hand, palm outward. Three to four seconds elapsed between Fortson opening the door and the deputy firing six rounds at him.

Okaloosa Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran on May 31 after an internal affairs investigation concluded that "Mr. Fortson did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore, the former deputy's use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable." 

In fact, Fortson lived alone. His girlfriend told investigators he was in his living room playing video games and on a FaceTime call with her, not arguing, when there was a loud knocking at the door. When the banging continued and got louder, Fortson's girlfriend said he put down his phone and told her he was going to get his gun because he didn't know who it was.

"This tragic incident should have never occurred," Aden said in a statement accompanying the internal investigation. "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."

As I wrote shortly after Fortson's funeral, the tragedy illustrates a problem Reason has written about over and over again: "The government insists that its citizens have a Second Amendment right to own guns and defend their homes with them, but it also insists that it's reasonable for police to respond with deadly force when they're startled by the sight of a gun, or what could be a gun but might be a harmless object, or the knowledge that a gun is nearby, as in the case of Philando Castile."

Furthermore, "warrior-style" police training seminars drill into officers that they could be killed by a suspect at any moment and have to be ready to use deadly force without hesitation.

Duran told investigators that he shot Fortson because Fortson had "aggression in his eyes," and "it is him or me at this point and I need to, I need to act as opposed to react."

Reason recently reported on a New Jersey-based police training company that glorified violence and promoted unconstitutional tactics. After being exposed by a New Jersey government watchdog and banned in nine states, the company declared bankruptcy and relocated to Florida.

Comments

[JFree]

“warrior-style” police training seminars drill into officers that they could be killed by a suspect at any moment and have to be ready to use deadly force without hesitation.
Duran told investigators that he shot Fortson because Fortson had “aggression in his eyes,” and “it is him or me at this point and I need to, I need to act as opposed to react.”

Did one of these ‘warrior’ police training companies train this officer Duran? Police training in the US is totally incompetent and slap dash. 400 to 600 hours – mostly about guns – compared to 2-3 years or 5000 hours in some countries. But it’s hard for me to identify whether this officer was poorly trained or not trained or a shooting waiting to happen.

[williams25248]

5000 hours? A full work year is only 2080 hours (52 weeks a year, 40 hours a week). My department did something like 40 hours of firearms/tactical training a year. To get 5000 hours of training would take years upon years. You’d never have any cops on the street, they’d be continually in training. And most of our training was not "mostly about guns". It was driving, defensive tactics, legal updates, dealing with the mentally ill, scenario-based training, investigations and firearms.

[sarcasmic]

How much training do you get in lying to people and in tricking them into giving up their Constitutional rights, and how much training do you get in viewing the Constitution as something to respect instead of an obstacle to overcome?

I’m guessing lots of the former and zero of the latter.

How much training do you get zero tolerance for noncompliance and zero tolerance for any perceived threat to officer safety, and how much training do you get in deescalating?

Again, I'm going to guess lots of the former and zero of the latter.

[JFree]

Two years looks very common in Europe. Not as prerequisite for the hire in most cases but as what they will be formally learning and (restricted) doing in their first couple years.

Basic training would include:
Typical subjects and police tasks taught in the basic training are: law (traffic, penal, civil, penal procedure, criminal, criminal procedure), general legal and administrative knowledge, psychology, crime prevention, youth problems, drug related problems, informatics, criminalistics, crime scene investigation, patrolling, stopping vehicles, crime-related information gathering, witness interviewing, intervening in public disorders, and history of law enforcement.
Typical skills taught in the basic training are: criminal evidence handling, traffic regulation, self-defense, swimming, shooting, report writing, first aid, communication, using computers, public relations, crowd control, using baton, handcuffs, gathering information, using right police procedure, documenting, using technical equipment, cooperation in group, decision-making, communication, administrative skills, foreign languages, and physical training.

Then specialized training (eg In Finland, specialized training covers issues of public order and safety, community policing, narcotics, issues of foreigners and immigrants, asylum, data analysis, conducting interviews and interrogations, issues of economic crime, technical issues, administration and management, and special laws and decrees) and on-the-job training.

From this article re European police education and training

[sarcasmic]

The dirty secret about law enforcement in the US is that it isn't law enforcement. They don't know the law and they don't give two shits about the law. They are compliance officers. Their job is to make people obey.

Courts have said that ignorance of the law is no excuse, unless you enforce it.

[sarcasmic]

To get 5000 hours of training would take years upon years. You’d never have any cops on the street, they’d be continually in training.

Hairdressers are required to get more training than the police.
People who arrange flowers are required to get more training than the police.

[Squirrelloid]

AT to show up and defend the officer in 3... 2... 1...

[Zeb]

Seems like a safe bet. https://reason.com/2024/05/20/the-police-killing-of-roger-fortson-shows-the-conflict-between-the-2nd-amendment-and-paranoid-cops/?comments=true#comment-10568327

[AT]

lol, clearly didn’t read that post, did you. And what specific Ceej idiocy I was replying to in it.

[Zeb]

OK, I was a bit unfair. Still, you seem to be making excuses for the cop.

[AT]

I literally flat out said he wasn't justified. What excuses do you think I'm making here?

[AT]

No, this one seems pretty cut and dry. Proper procedure would have been to draw his own service weapon and demand surrender of the suspect's - not just go straight to the blam blam. If Fortson had brought his online in response - when it's clearly a police officer - that'd be a different story. But, he didn't.

That being said, please try to understand that cops are super paranoid on domestic calls. Those have a way of going from zero to crazy real quick. Even in cases where the disturbance was just a spousal dispute, and the alleged victim isn't even on the scene and the only one there is the alleged abuser - they will want your hands in plain sight the entire time. Even casual, unconscious moves like shoving your hands in your pockets in frustration at the fact that the spat warranted police involvement can result in a gun draw and a barked order to show your hands. (This is in no small part because domestics often go hand in hand with the suspect being under the influence, which makes them even more unpredictable.)

I'm not saying it justifies a blam blam - and it certainly didn't here - I'm just saying that most cops I know would rather walk in on a murder scene than intervene in a domestic dispute. The latter makes them more jumpy than the former, if you can believe it.

But, again, it doesn't justify going straight to lethal force.

[mad.casual]

Too bad we burned out all that police reform energy on George Floyd.

Riots over police officers killing *two* Air Force veterans/service members would've been awkward.

[Rick James]

There is an argument (and one that I'm amenable to) that suggests that the far-left purposely use bad and/or contentious cases to push police reform policies.

The idea being that the far left isn't interested in police reform, they're only interested in 'disruption'.

[SRG2]

That may well be true, but sometimes good policy makes for strange bedfellows.

[Rockstevo]

I have been saying that for years, case in point Obama pushed the country into riots over the Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin BS...both cases of people who brought their own deaths on themselves but barely a peep about Tamir Rice a case everyone should have been upset about. But that would not have served the cause of splitting the country into camps which is what he had been doing since he was elected starting with the Henry Louis Gates debacle.

[Vernon Depner]

The John Crawford case was another clear case of police murder that should be widely known but isn't.

[sarcasmic]

Anyone else would be facing stacked charges adding up to several life sentences, or taking a plea. This guy faces one charge. That’s it. If he beats it he won’t be looking at the possibility of being convicted of lesser charges like anyone else would. No, he’s facing just the one.
I bet $20 he’ll beat the charge and be reinstated with back pay.

[Mother's Lament]

Say Sarckles, did you know Roger Fortson was MAGA, while the police officer was just worried about an iNnSurEctIon?

"Eddie Duran is a hero stopping practically 9/11!!! How dare Reason besmirch his honor!!!!"

[sarcasmic]

Unlike you I don't judge everything based solely upon the political affiliations of the people involved.

[Chupacabra]

LOL

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Sarc has collapsed into a singularity of self-parody.

[Mother's Lament]

I've said it a million times before, but self-awareness isn't a Sarcasmic superpower.

[Rick James]

“warrior-style” police training seminars drill into officers that they could be killed by a suspect at any moment and have to be ready to use deadly force without hesitation.
Duran told investigators that he shot Fortson because Fortson had “aggression in his eyes,” and “it is him or me at this point and I need to, I need to act as opposed to react.”.

As for the last part of the statement, it’s certainly a good thing to train officers to not be gun-happy and perhaps take a certain amount of increased risk to avoid unnecessary loss of life, as for the first part of the statement, I’ve had a LOT of police body cam videos coming through my feed lately and uhh, yes, yes they can be killed (or shot at) by a suspect at any moment.

[Zeb]

And likewise, a suspect can be killed or shot at by a cop at any moment. As with suspects, you never know which cop is the one who will lose his shit and open fire for a bad reason.
Good cops should rightly be proud that they risk their lives for the sake of others. And that means accepting that their job involves risks that others don't typically face, such as not being totally sure if the guy answering the door with a gun is a nutter willing to kill a cop. That should mean, if anything, a higher threshold for use of deadly force for police than for ordinary citizens. Especially when dealing with people in their own homes, who have a very strong right to self defense.

[Jefferson Paul]

Well said.

[mad.casual]

That should mean, if anything, a higher threshold for use of deadly force for police than for ordinary citizens. Especially when dealing with people in their own homes, who have a very strong right to self defense.

I used to hold this view and still kinda do. However, I've long since come to realize that this is a luxury and/or non-solution.

Pushing forward on what Dian... Rick James was saying, no amount of training is going to train up the mindset as quickly and effectively as even 5-10 min. of actual incidents. And regarding "luxury", 5-10 min. of such incidents is maybe a career's worth of training in some places but, in others, it's potentially a couple weeks to a year. So, unless you're paying officers NFL salaries and culturing up kids to fill the ranks of new recruits so that officers can retire by the time they're 40 and each position is stacked 4 deep, you're going to get lots and lots of officers who've been bitten, stabbed, shot at, etc., etc., etc. from some of the worst humanity has to offer and unable to do their job effectively with a different mindset. The idea of de-escalating a situation with someone who's mentally handicapped with a knife (In their own home!) isn't going to occur to them because the last 10 times they encountered this, the person was openly antagonistic and/or using their emotional instability to manipulate things.

Of course, the fertile soil of the whole garden of weeds and flowers is the objective recognition of mutual trust and personal responsibility that Reason *loves* to undermine by taking sides with people like George Floyd, Jacob Blake, and Michael Brown (or worse). Ensuring that the garden only grows more weeds, whether they wear badges or not.

[Derpifer]

People have no right to self-defense in their homes. A cop can expect to get a paid vacation for mag-dumping anyone who checks his window or door armed at 3am even when the cop was the prowler going bump in the night. We are a police state and until people yank their asscorks out of their head-hiders, we will all deserve everything we get.

[JFree]

No cop should be placed into a situation where that risk is high unless/until they know how to deal with it without panicking and making poor decisions. This is the US and we do have an armed population so the risk is higher - but that means more training is necessary. Like why not militia mustering/training since that is the origin of police. Use that as both recruiting and screening.

Annual killings by police in US - 1096
Germany - 11
France - 37
UK - 3
Netherlands - 24
Poland - 3
Finland (1) and Switzerland (0) also have highly armed populations

[Mother's Lament]

Chemjeff smiles, but also says it isn't happening:

These images were reportedly taken inside @MMSDschools in Wisconsin.

This school is trying to destroy "heteronormative thinking" and replace it with a "queer affirming network?"

When they say they're coming for your kids, believe them.

[williams25248]

So wait a minute. Police officers knock on his door and announce themselves. He knows that the police are at his door. So WHY answer the door with a loaded firearm in your hand? "Fortson opened it while holding a legally owned handgun at his side". Why not put the weapon aside, open the door for the officers so they can see you're no threat? They don't know who he is or if he's supposed to be there. Maybe it should have gone down differently, but the difference between a gun at your side and a gun pointed at the cops is a split second.

[sarcasmic]

Anyone can bang on someone's door and claim to be the police.

[williams25248]

So your first response to someone knocking on your door is to bring a gun to answer it? How about call 911 and confirm police are at your door? And seriously, how often to you read about people claiming to be police and knocking on someone's door?

[sarcasmic]

So your first response to someone knocking on your door is to bring a gun to answer it?

Me personally? No. Then again the article doesn't mention what time it was. At 3am I just might.

How about call 911 and confirm police are at your door?

Because by the time you get someone on the line it will be too late.

And seriously, how often to you read about people claiming to be police and knocking on someone’s door?

If the occupants are murdered you certainly won't hear about it because the only ones who would tell the story are dead.

[Zeb]

You can find plenty of stories about criminals pretending to be police in order to victimize people.

And whether it's a great idea or not people do answer their door armed and it's legal. So police need to be prepared for that and not overreact to perfectly innocent and legal behavior. A gun in someone's hand, not pointed at you, is not a threat.

[Rick James]

So your first response to someone knocking on your door is to bring a gun to answer it? How about call 911 and confirm police are at your door? And seriously, how often to you read about people claiming to be police and knocking on someone’s door?

Crime is down so ye... wait, violent crime isn... I got nothin'

[williams25248]

What would we be saying if for some reason this airman had mental issues, or had committed a crime, and had shot one one of the officers as soon as he opened the door? Oh well? I'm not saying this went down right, it should be 100% investigated and if the officers did anything wrong, hold them accountable. But having been one for 25 years, if I knocked on someone's door and they answered with a gun in their hand, that ramps the situation up pretty quick.

[sarcasmic]

What would we be saying if for some reason this airman had mental issues, or had committed a crime, and had shot one one of the officers as soon as he opened the door? Oh well?

Yes. Oh well. Because police officers should expected to take risks and be held to a higher standard. Instead they use “officer safety” and “failure to comply” as blanket excuses to escalate whenever possible, and are held to a much lower standard than the rest of us.

But having been one for 25 years, if I knocked on someone’s door and they answered with a gun in their hand, that ramps the situation up pretty quick.

Would you murder them first and give commands later? I think so. You seem like the kind of guy who would yell "Stop resisting!" and then charge someone for assaulting your fists with their face.

[diver64]

As most on here know, domestic violence or disturbance calls are the most dangerous for a police office to respond to. When someone answers the door with a firearm in his hand and the officers is still in the holster it can go south before the officer can react.

[swillfredo pareto]

What would we be saying if for some reason this airman had mental issues, or had committed a crime, and had shot one one of the officers as soon as he opened the door?

I would say it is a tragedy, but the exceedingly low risk of it happening is why law enforcement agents are well compensated for a job requiring relatively few skills.

[Bipedal Humanoid]

...and there it is. Former cop defending a cop that executed a servicemen point blank.

[Yuno Hoo]

"The government insists that its citizens have a Second Amendment right to own guns and defend their homes with them"

Then perhaps President Harris will insist on providing subsidized weapons to all citizens.

[Get To Da Chippah]

Duran told investigators that he shot Fortson because Fortson had "aggression in his eyes," and "it is him or me at this point and I need to, I need to act as opposed to react."

Good enough for me.

sin,
AT

[AT]

I don't put words in your mouth, Chip. Please don't put words in mine.

Nobody likes someone who pollutes the well.

[KARtikeya]

That’s goddamn rich. You put words in my mouth all the time you backwards, fascist fucking bigot.

Do America a favor and kill yourself. You don’t have to worry about hell because your stupid fucking god doesn’t exist.

[AT]

I do no such thing, pedophile.

[KARtikeya]

You called me a Transgender pedophile. I am a heterosexual male you goddamn hick.

I’ve spent years calling out religious institutional sex abuse. I’m not a pedophile.

It would be wrong for me to stereotype and judge all Christians by the words and actions of you. Just as it’s wrong for you to stereotype and judge all LGTB people for the words and actions of a few.

You know I’m right.

[AT]

Well, you are a pedophile. Or at least an enabler. Which is just as bad.

You have openly admitted this many, many times. In fact, you do it right there in that very post.

Just as it’s wrong for you to stereotype and judge all LGTB people for the words and actions of a few.

But it's not a few, is it. It's damn near all of them - including you - and you know it. None of them want to end up the next JK Rowling after all, so instead they offer full-throated support (or worse, a blind eye). Of grooming, mutilating, and molesting children.

That's enabling.

Have you ever noticed that when a LGBT pedo gains some small level of attention - promotion to a senior position, feature in a culture piece, government election, etc - often within a month or two the next headline is how they found a bunch of kiddie porn on his computer. The LGBT pedo community cannot help itself. So they try to obfuscate it with "pride," and abuse society's definitions of "tolerance" and "privacy," and level accusations of bigotry as if there's something "wrong" with being against them and their goals.

It's ALL about getting to the children. That is the SINGULAR GOAL of the homosexuals. It ALWAYS has been, throughout all of human history. There's a REASON why every single civilized society and major religion shunned these people - we've ALWAYS been aware of the deviant perverted monsters beneath. The goal of LGBT has always been and always will be P. Always. What the hell do you think the + stands for? It's so they don't have to say it out loud and reveal precisely who and what they are.

You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. But you intentionally enable it, you sick disgusting pederast.

[KARtikeya]

“Have you ever noticed that when a LGBT pedo gains some small level of attention – promotion to a senior position, feature in a culture piece, government election, etc – often within a month or two the next headline is how they found a bunch of kiddie porn on his computer.”

There are plenty of heterosexual Christians who get busted for that as well. Josh Duggar is one that comes to mind. Tim Ballard accused anyone who disagreed with him of being a pedo. Turns out he was a pervert and a grifter. Not kiddie porn, but shady sex shit.

“You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. But you intentionally enable it, you sick disgusting pederast.”

There you go speaking for others again. The vast majority of Americans disagree with you.

You know I am right.

There is really no point in arguing with an uneducated, backwards, shitkicking yokel like you. Deep down you know I am right.

I hope you eventually admit how wrong and bigoted your posts are.

[AT]

There are plenty of heterosexual Christians who get busted for that as well. Josh Duggar is one that comes to mind.

Yea, but for every one Christian in a million that gets caught with that kind of disgusting thing, there's 999,999 LGBT pedos in a million - like yourself - that vocally enable it.

There you go speaking for others again. The vast majority of Americans disagree with you.

Step out of the echo chamber, Kar. Wake up to a very pissed off America that is SO done with your rainbow cult.

You people have pushed it too far. You and your kind are not long for this world. I've offered to help you avoid this fate, but you spit in my face every time.

So, on your own then. GLWT.

ps. Language.

[KARtikeya]

“Step out of the echo chamber, Kar. Wake up to a very pissed off America that is SO done with your rainbow cult.”

You’re the one in the echo chamber if that’s what you believe. Turn on your tv! You see gay and trans characters all over television and movies. Look at elections! The pro-LGTBQ party has won the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections. The majority of Americans have no problem with gay or trans people. It’s an increasingly smaller, yet vocal, minority of backwards hicks in shithole rural areas like you that spread hate and lies.

“Yea, but for every one Christian in a million that gets caught with that kind of disgusting thing, there’s 999,999 LGBT pedos in a million – like yourself – that vocally enable it.”

I know your religion has conditioned you to accept patently false narratives without evidence, but you aren’t going to convince anyone else without evidence.

What evidence do you have for this?

“You people have pushed it too far. You and your kind are not long for this world. I’ve offered to help you avoid this fate, but you spit in my face every time.”

No YOU are the one who has pushed it to far. The looney religious right has always held far more power than their numbers warranted. Now that some of that power is eroding your people are getting more and more extreme.

I have told you I will watch my god damn fucking language if you stop your goddamn fucking gay bashing.

You are an out of touch, backwards hillbilly. You need to accept that your views are extremely unpopular in America.

[AT]

Turn on your tv!

HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

You did NOT just say that! You did NOT just make your whole position, “Turn on the idiot box! Let it tell you what to think! Don’t question what it says!”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The majority of Americans have no problem with gay or trans people.

They didn’t. Not until the gay and trans people started overtly coming for the kids.

Now they’re done. And it will be brutal.

What evidence do you have for this?

I told you the evidence already. I literally showed you – in your own post – how you enable them. How you support the grooming, mutilating, and raping of children.

DENOUNCE them, Kar. Denounce the LGBT. Denounce them as the predatory, malevolent, hateful, child-targeting monsters that they are. If you want people to believe that you’re NOT enabling the LGBT pedos, you have to actually take a stand AGAINST them.

You REFUSE to do this. Constantly.

But of course you do. Because you’re one of them.

Now that some of that power is eroding your people are getting more and more extreme.

More extreme than drag queen story hour? More extreme than grooming in grade school? More extreme than hiding their machinations from parents? More extreme than children putting dollar bills into a man wearing lingerie’s g-string?

“My” people are getting more extreme? We actually haven’t.

Yet.

But dude, you and your kind are asking for it. Go ahead and keep poking that bear, you stupid pederast. Nobody will miss you when it tears your head off.

Also, LANGUAGE.

[Bipedal Humanoid]

"Aggression in his eyes"

Ummmmm...OK?

[Derpifer]

"So just having a visible gun is a good enough reason to get oneself shot dead? What an interesting premise, officer!"

[diver64]

Oh, good. That racist ambulance chaser Benjamin Crump is in the house.
If the police show up at your door, don't answer with a firearm in your hand. This is far different from a middle of the night no knock raid.

[Liberty_Belle]

Police don't like "even odds". That is why they up the ante and / or do everything they possible can to have overwhelming force advantage. The very idea that you even talk to them with a gun visibly holstered on your person sends some of them over the edge.