The home going service for Senior Airman Roger Fortson will be held on May 17 at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia. Fortson will be eulogized by several renown figures including Pastor Jamal Bryant and Rev. Al Sharpton.
Fortson, an Atlanta native who graduated from McNair High School, was shot and killed by a Florida deputy on May 3.
While alone inside of his apartment in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Fortson heard a knock a the door, according to woman who was on a FaceTime with him at the time. When Fortson asked who was at the door, he did not receive a response and could not see a person through the peephole.
Alarmed, Fortson grabbed his firearm which he legally owned.
A deputy, whose name has yet to be revealed, entered Fortson’s home and began shooting. He shot Fortson six times. The sheriff said deputies reacted in self-defense after encountering an armed man as they were responding to a disturbance report. However, a deputy’s bodycam video revealed that Fortson’s gun was pointed down when he opened his door.
It was revealed that the deputies were answering a domestic disturbance, but entered the wrong apartment.
“The circumstances surrounding Roger’s death raise serious questions that demand immediate answers from authorities, especially considering the alarming witness statement that the police entered the wrong apartment,” Crump said in a statement.
“We are calling for transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of body cam video to the family,” the attorney added. “His family and the public deserve to know what occurred in the moments leading up to this tragedy.”
In a statement, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden asked for the “community’s patience as [they] work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event.” However, according to the bodycam video, patience wasn’t used by the deputy who shot Fortson.
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