The family of Senior Airman Roger Fortson is continuing its fight for accountability after a Florida jury acquitted the former sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot the 23-year-old within seconds of him opening his apartment door while holding a legally owned gun pointed toward the floor.
Source: Hurlburt Field/Facebook / facebook
According to NewsOne, former Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy Eddie Duran was found not guilty of manslaughter. This is following a four-day trial over the May 3, 2024, killing. While the criminal case has ended without a conviction, Fortson’s family and civil rights attorney Ben Crump are moving forward with a federal civil rights lawsuit.
Jury Acquits Eddie Duran After Roughly Two Hours Of Deliberations
Jurors acquitted Duran after approximately two hours of deliberations. According to Atlanta Black Star, Duran, who faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted, testified that he believed his life was in danger when Fortson answered his apartment door holding a firearm. He previously justified firing his gun and ending the life of the young airman over his alleged “aggressive stare.”
Duran responded to an alleged domestic violence complaint at the apartment complex where Fortson lived alone and attempted to raid the wrong apartment unit. Atlanta Black Star reports that a leasing consultant had contacted the sheriff’s non-emergency line after receiving a complaint from a tenant who lived below the airman.
Duran pounded on Fortson’s door and twice announced himself as being with the sheriff’s office while positioning himself outside the view of the peephole.
Fortson, a legal gun owner, answered with his firearm pointed downward at his side. Duran opened fire within seconds.
Duran offered a different account of the gun’s positioning during his testimony, claiming it was pointed toward him at an “upward angle.”
“The decision to shoot only came from the door opening, the firearm being up in my direction and the 100 percent belief that I was about to be shot,” Duran said, according to WEAR via Atlanta Black Star.
Assistant State Attorney Mark Alderman challenged that account during closing arguments.
“He’s not telling the truth,” Alderman said, according to Atlanta Black Star. “That gun was pointed at the ground the entire time. And he wants to give you evidence that Roger was aggressive or a threat.”
Duran’s attorney, Rod Smith, argued that his client acted out of fear for his life.
“[Duran] didn’t know the guy. He never had an encounter with him in his life. There’s no motive,” Smith said. “The only reason he pulls that gun is he fears for his life. … He defends himself.”
Less than a month after Fortson was killed, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office fired Duran after an internal investigation determined his use of deadly force “was not objectively reasonable and therefore violated agency policy.”
Roger Fortson’s Mother Says She Is Now In ‘Survival Mode’
For Fortson’s mother, Chantemekki Fortson, the end of the criminal trial has forced her to confront a reality she spent more than two years trying not to face.
According to 11Alive, Fortson said she was not surprised by Duran’s acquittal, particularly because jurors deliberated for only about two hours.
“They went to deliberate for just two hours,” she told 11Alive. “It took the judge 14 days to go through all the evidence, all the material, and it only took them two hours. So, again, I wasn’t surprised.”
Fortson said her pursuit of accountability was never about demanding that Duran spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“I never asked him to lock him up for the rest of his life,” she said. “I just wanted you to tell the truth. I just want you to tell the truth that you should not have killed him, that you pulled the trigger too fast.”
The trial also forced the grieving mother to revisit circumstances surrounding her son’s killing that she said she had previously avoided.
“Now I can’t do that. Like he’s really gone,” Fortson said. “He’s never coming back.”
She described the ordinary moments she misses, including her son climbing into her bed and lying in her lap while she played with his curly hair.
Fortson also expressed guilt over feeling unable to secure what she viewed as accountability for a son who had spent much of his life protecting her.
“I never had to protect him. He’s always protecting me,” she told 11Alive. “And the one thing that he needed, which was accountability, I felt like I failed.”
Still, Fortson made it clear that her work to protect her son’s legacy is not ending with the verdict.
“I’d walk through hell for my children,” she said.
Ben Crump Says The Fortson Family Will ‘Seek Accountability’ In Federal Court
Reuters states that Crump vowed Friday that the family would continue seeking accountability through its pending federal civil rights case against Duran, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and others.
“Roger’s life and his service will always matter,” Crump said in a statement. “His family will keep fighting for him, and we will stand with them as they pursue their civil rights case in federal court and seek accountability for the tragic loss of life.”
Reuters reports that body camera footage showed Fortson answering his door with the handgun at his side and pointed toward the floor before Duran immediately fired multiple times at close range. Fortson later died at a hospital.
Duran’s defense attorney maintained after the acquittal that his client had followed his training. In an interview with WEAR cited by Reuters, Smith described Fortson’s killing as a “tragedy” but not a crime and argued that the airman should have “simply opened the door” without holding a gun.
Prosecutors, however, presented evidence during the trial that the complaint deputies were responding to did not involve Fortson, Reuters reports. Fortson’s family has maintained that Duran knocked on the wrong door while responding to the disturbance complaint.
Following the verdict, the office of State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden acknowledged the reaction the acquittal could provoke and urged the public to respond peacefully.
“We understand that this verdict will cause pain, anger, or disappointment for many people,” the office said, noting that some would view Fortson’s death within the broader context of law enforcement encounters across the country.
Fortson’s legacy also extends beyond the case now carrying his name.
According to Reuters, the senior airman served with the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, and the Air Force posthumously awarded him the Air and Space Commendation Medal for meritorious service as a special missions aviator.
Now, although Duran will face no criminal conviction for Fortson’s death, his family’s pursuit of accountability is moving to a different courtroom.
As his mother continues grieving the future her son never got to experience, Crump says the family will keep fighting to ensure his life, military service and the circumstances surrounding his death remain at the center of their federal civil rights case.
