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Florida deputy who fatally shot U.S. airman is fired following internal investigation
A sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot a Florida airman at his apartment earlier this month has been fired, authorities announced Friday.
Deputy Eddie Duran was “terminated” following an investigation by internal affairs, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office reported in a news release.
The investigation determined that Duran’s “use of deadly force” in the shooting death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson “was not objectively reasonable and therefore violated agency policy,” the sheriff’s office said.
On May 3, the 23-year-old Fortson was in his apartment in the Florida Panhandle city of Fort Walton Beach when he was fatally shot by Duran. Fortson was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, about five miles from his apartment.
Sheriff’s investigators determined that Duran had initially been dispatched to an “in-progress physical disturbance” at Fortson’s apartment complex, the sheriff’s office said in its news release Friday.
The sheriff’s office says that when Duran arrived at the complex, he was directed by a complex employee to unit 1401, where the employee stated was “the location of the disturbance,” and added that “there had been recent unreported disturbances at or around the same apartment,” the sheriff’s office reported.
A statement previously released by the family, however, contradicts that assertion, claiming that Fortson was on a FaceTime call with his girlfriend leading up to the shooting, and alleged that the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment.
Body camera video released by the sheriff’s office earlier this month showed a deputy knocking on the door of Fortson’s apartment and announcing he was with the sheriff’s office. When the door opens, the deputy yells for Fortson to step back.
In the bodycam video, the deputy initially knocks without announcing himself. About 30 seconds later, he knocks again, saying he’s with the sheriff’s office and to open the door. He knocks and announces himself approximately 10 seconds later. Within seconds of Fortson opening the door, the deputy shoots Fortson, who is seen holding what appears to be a handgun at his side.
Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Fortson family, previously stated in a news conference that Fortson was on FaceTime with his girlfriend and went to retrieve his legally owned gun after hearing the knock on the door and not hearing who was there.
Crump’s firm also previously released a video of the FaceTime call that appears to start after the shooting, showing the ceiling of Fortson’s apartment.
“I can’t breathe,” Fortson says in the video while groaning.
Sheriff’s investigators allege that when Fortson opened the door, Duran saw Fortson “holding a firearm in his right hand,” but that the gun “was pointed at the ground sufficiently enough for the former deputy to clearly see the rear face of the rear sight.”
Fortson “did not physically resist” Duran “in any way, and the investigation concluded that Mr. Forston did not point the gun in the former deputy’s direction,” the sheriff’s office said Friday.
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said in a statement Friday that “this tragic incident should have never occurred. The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson’s actions. Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual.”
— Alex Sundby contributed to this report.
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USPS announces Betty White stamp will be released in 2025
Legendary TV icon Betty White will be honored in 2025 with a stamp, the U.S. Postal Service announced on Friday.
The “Golden Girls” and “Mary Tyler Moore Show” actor “shared her wit and warmth with viewers for seven decades,” the news release from the USPS read.
“The comedic actor, who gained younger generations of fans as she entered her 90s, was also revered as a compassionate advocate for animals,” the USPS said.
The image of White, who died in 2021, was created based on a 2010 photograph, the USPS said. The USPS said the list of new stamps released on Friday is a partial one, with additional stamps to be announced in the coming weeks and months.
“This early glimpse into our 2025 stamp program demonstrates our commitment to providing a diverse range of subjects and designs for both philatelists and stamp enthusiasts,” said Lisa Bobb-Semple, stamp services director for USPS.
White launched her TV career in daytime talk shows when the medium was still in its infancy and endured well into the age of cable and streaming. Her combination of sweetness and edginess gave life to a roster of quirky characters in shows from the sitcom “Life With Elizabeth” in the early 1950s to oddball Rose Nylund in “The Golden Girls” in the ’80s to “Boston Legal,” which ran from 2004 to 2008.
White died in December 2021. She was 99 and just a few weeks shy of what would have been her 100th birthday on Jan. 17.
When asked how she had managed to be universally beloved during her long career, White summed it up with a dimpled smile: “I just make it my business to get along with people so I can have fun. It’s that simple.”
The USPS said it will also honor pianist and composer Allen Toussaint, who died in 2015 at the age of 77.