Florida deputies who fatally shot a Black airman at his home last Friday while responding to a disturbance call went to the wrong apartment, the family's lawyer said, citing a witness who was on a FaceTime call with the victim at the time.
Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was stationed at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was killed in his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach on May 3, the Associated Press reported.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said at the time of the shooting, Fortson was talking to a woman on FaceTime.
The woman, whom Crump did not identify, said Fortson was alone in the apartment when he heard somebody knocking twice.
When he couldn't see anyone through the peephole, Fortson went to get his gun, which was legally owned.
Deputies burst through the door as Fortson returned to his living room, and seeing him with a weapon opened fire, striking him six times, Crump said in a statement.
The woman said Fortson was on the floor gasping, "I can't breathe."
He died at a local hospital.
"The circumstances surrounding Roger's death raise serious questions that demand immediate answers from authorities, especially considering the alarming witness statement that the police entered the wrong apartment," Crump said in a statement.
"We are calling for transparency in the investigation into Roger's death and the immediate release of body cam video to the family," he continued. "His family and the public deserve to know what occurred in the moments leading up to this tragedy."
The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, said the deputy who shot Fortson was placed on administrative leave and it has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the shooting.
"At this time, we humbly ask for our community's patience as we work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event," it said.
