THE last words spoken by a US airman before he was shot dead by a police officer were revealed by his heartbroken mother, who called his death unjustifiable.
Senior U.S. Air Force Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was shot in his apartment when officers responded to a call about a disturbance on May 3.
5
5
Body camera footage shows an Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy entering an elevator before walking down an exterior hallway of an apartment building in Fort Walton Beach, Florida — about 160 miles west of Tallahassee.
The deputy is then seen knocking on a door and stepping aside yelling, “Sheriff’s office! Open the door!”
Fortson opens the door and is seen holding what appears to be a gun pointed at the floor.
“Get away!” shouted the deputy, firing before telling Fortson to “drop the gun! Drop the gun!”
READ MORE ABOUT ROGER FORTSON
Fortson, lying on the ground, told the deputy where the gun was, saying he didn’t have it when the deputy asked him to drop the gun again.
“I don’t have it,” Fortson said before the officer called paramedics.
Fortson was talking to his girlfriend on FaceTime at the time and grabbed his gun when he heard someone outside his apartment.
“The girlfriend acknowledges that, although she initially thought the door had been broken into by the police that she retains her emotional memory of what happened,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family.
A clip of the FaceTime video taken on Fortson’s phone shows him groaning and saying, “I can’t breathe.”
A deputy is heard yelling at him to “stop moving!”
5
The deputy has since been placed on administrative leave while the investigation continues.
Fortson’s mother, Chantemekki Fortson, held a framed portrait of her son during a news conference Thursday.
“My baby was shot,” she said through tears.
“My son taught us how to love. How to forgive.”
“So to this sheriff’s department that took my gift that had so many compliments inside it. Airing is human and forgiving is divine.
“I need you to tell the truth about my son. I need you to fix his reputation.”
Chantemekki Fortson described her son’s girlfriend hearing the gunfire.
“She literally saw them walk over him as he was dying, taking his last breath.”
Crump claims the deputy went to the wrong apartment and did not announce himself.
“We remain adamant that the police had the wrong apartment, as Roger was on the phone with his girlfriend for a substantial period of time before the shooting and there was no one else in the apartment,” Crump said in a statement.
The phone is pointed at the ceiling so the footage does not show what is happening in the apartment.
I need you to tell the truth about my son. I need you to fix his reputation.
Chantemekki Fortson
THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden dismissed the allegations made by Crump but extended condolences to Fortson’s family. family.
“This result is something we never expected to find,” Aden said.
“These investigations take time, but I want to assure you that we are not hiding or trying to cover up anything.”
The Florida Department Law Police are investigating the shooting.
Sheriff Aden said the investigation was being treated as a criminal investigation and no determination was made as to whether or not the deputy’s actions were justified.
However, a first News The sheriff’s office release described the shooting as the deputy responding “in self-defense after encountering a 23-year-old man armed with a gun.”
Crump described Fortson as a “patriot.”
“For some reason, they thought he was a bad guy, but he was a good guy. He was a great guy. He was an exceptional guy,” he said.
“They took a patriot from us.”
Fortson enlisted in the Air Force after graduating high school and worked in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field.
At the time of the shooting, Fortson lived just five miles from the base.
US Sun has reached out to Crump and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
5
5
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
