A former Florida sheriff’s deputy was charged with manslaughter with a firearm after fatally shooting Senior Airman Roger Fortson three months ago.
Former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran was charged this week in the shooting of Senior Airman Roger Fortson, according to the assistant state attorney’s office. The charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Fortson was fatally shot six times on May 3 by Duran, who allegedly responded to the wrong apartment for a disturbance call.
“This decision marks the first step towards justice for the family of Roger Fortson,” family attorney and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump told Newsweek. “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.”
Newsweek reached out to the State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden’s office and did not hear back immediately.
Her office, however, told CBS a warrant has been issued for Duran’s arrest, but he is not in custody as of early Friday afternoon.
“We continue to wish Mr. Fortson’s family comfort and peace, as the former deputy’s criminal case proceeds,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “We stand by our decision to terminate Mr. Duran as a result of the administrative internal affairs investigation that found his use of force was not objectively reasonable.”
Crump and Forston’s family had held a press conference last week pleading for Bowden Madden to charge Duran by today.
“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,” Crump told Newsweek following Duran’s charges.
What happened to Roger Fortson?
A deputy responding to a disturbance call “reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Fortson, who was originally from Atlanta, was at his off-base apartment on Racetrack Road when the shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. Fortson was taken to the hospital, where he died.
In bodycam video, the deputy is seen in the apartment complex on Racetrack Road asking, “What’s going on.”
The deputy asked if a “fight is going on or something.” He meets with a woman who said fighting happens “frequently but this time it was sounding like it was getting out of hand.”
When the officer asked what door, the woman said, “I’m not sure.” She later says apartment 1401 – which was Fortson’s apartment number.
Crump played the police radio audio for the audience at a press conference. The dispatch officer was not able to provide information beyond that the incident involved a male and female.
“They said it was a domestic dispute between a male and a female, so they had to have had the wrong apartment,” Crump said at Fortson’s funeral. “If he can’t be safe in his own home, where can he be safe then?”
Sheriff’s records show another unit in the apartment complex, 1412, has had repeated domestic calls, several welfare checks and an EMS call for a “hemorrhage,” as reported by the Miami Herald. Deputies were called to the 1412 apartment 10 times since August 2023.
While the officer was entering Fortson’s apartment complex, Fortson was on Facetime with his girlfriend and alone. Fortson had grabbed his gun, which he legally owned, when he heard banging at his door.
After a barrage of bullets, Fortson hits the ground and was eventually taken to a local hospital, where he died.
Fortson’s dog, Chloe, was with Fortson in his apartment and witnessed the shooting.
Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., according to the Air Force. He entered active duty on Nov. 19, 2019.
He was a combat veteran, taking part in a special operations mission in Syria. Fortson was awarded the Air Medal with a Combat Device in 2023.
Fortson’s mother, Chantemekki, posted to Facebook yesterday about how her son’s murderer is still free.
“These people have played all kinds of games even though they know my baby has been risking his life for them on Foreign Lands he come to the land of the Free and get SLAUGHTERED by a nobody Eric Aden and Eddie DURan you are nobody’s bully’s,” she posted.
Who is Eddie Duran?
Duran, who lives in Shalimar, Florida, served in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2014, which included a combat deployment to Iraq in 2008, Cpt. Robert Wagner wrote in the office’s investigation. He started in military intelligence and then moved to military law enforcement in 2007.
Following Duran’s honorable discharge, he started his civilian law enforcement career in Oklahoma. He worked as a police officer and K9 officer from 2015 to 2019.
For a period, however, in 2016 through early 2017, Duran was a fire marshal for the Altus Fire Department. In 2019 he had accepted a position as a sergeant for the civilian law enforcement police department on the Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
Duran was first employed by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in July 2019. He resigned in November 2021 to “follow his spouse (Ashley), who had a career opportunity outside of Florida,” according to the investigation. When wife’s career returned to the state, Duran returned to the department in June 2023.
He was reportedly “current” on response to resistance training, having last completed it on June 28, 2023. The training is meant to teach officers how to respond to situations when an individual is using violence or resisting arrest, according to the Florida Sheriffs Association.
“Direct to threat to me entails when we are aware of violent crime taking place that it is our responsibility to go forth, go forward without hesitation and ensuring that the threat is either eliminated or stopped,” Duran told Wagner in the investigation.
Duran was also current with his agency firearm qualification, according to the investigation. He last completed the training on June 8, 2023 with iron sights and again on Sept. 7, 2023 with the pistol mounted optic sight.
“Hesitation can lead to more violent offenses,” Duran said during the investigation. “The whole purpose is to stop the violent offenses.”
The administrative investigation determined Duran used “deadly force” that was not “reasonable” and “violated agency policy.” He was fired in June.
“The administrative investigation determined the deputy’s use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable and therefore violated agency policy,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office stated on May 31.
The administration’s internal investigation found Fortson did not resist Duran “in any way” and that he did not “point the gun in the former deputy’s direction.” Aden said the incident “should have never occurred.”
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