A black US Air Force personnel was shot dead by a Florida Sheriff's deputy, a lawyer representing his family said on Thursday. Shockingly, Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was gunned down after the police officer who mistook his apartment for another.
Roger Fortson was fatally shot six times on May 3 at his apartment. He was on FaceTime with his girlfriend, a nurse by profession, when the cop reached his door. Hearing loud knocks on the door with cries to open it, Fortson went for his licensed side arm before getting the door. Soon after he opened the door, he was shot by the Sheriff's deputy.
According to Fortson's girlfriend, he responded to the "aggressive banging" by asking "Who is it?" He decided to get the weapon as there was no response to his questions. When he tried to look the peephole, he couldn't figure out it was cops outside, AFP quoted the woman as saying.
Later, she heard the shots being fired through the phone, reports added.
According to Sheriff Eric Aden of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, the deputy was at the area to investigate "a disturbance in progress where he encountered an armed man." However, he wrongfully zeroed in on the Air Force officer's door who had nothing to do with the incident. The body cam footage of the officer involved has been released.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney's office would conduct an investigation, the report added.
The United States was rocked by protests in 2020 following the videotaped murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Floyd's death revived scrutiny of race relations and sparked calls for police reform.
