Photo Credit: Associated Press
A police who entered a wrong address fatally shot a US Air Force member. Senior Airman Roger Fortson, who was 23 years old, died after a deputy sheriff shot him while responding to a disturbance call.
Police earlier said the deputy reacted in self-defense after he saw Fortson armed with a gun. Citing a witness, the lawyer alleges that police burst into the wrong home. He is demanding a full investigation.
The airman was shot on 3 May at his home, located 5 miles (8km) from the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida, where he is based. Fortson was taken to a hospital where he died. The deputy who shot him - whom police have not named - has since been placed on administrative leave, according to a statement on Tuesday by Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden.
The incident is now being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office.
"Roger Fortson was the best America had to offer. He was a patriot. He was a US airman, special ops. He was fighting for our way of life. He was fighting for everybody," Mr Crump said at a news conference on Thursday. "They took a patriot from us."
His mother, Chantimekki Fortson, broke down crying as Mr Crump recounted the moments before the airman was shot.
"My baby was my everything," she said.
Mr Crump said at the time of the shooting Fortson was on a video call with a friend, who described what she heard to his family's legal team.
The friend said the airman heard a knock on his apartment door and asked who was there, but received no response. He then heard a second, "very aggressive knock" but did not see anyone when he looked through the peephole.
It is at this point that Fortson is said to have grown concerned and retrieved his gun, which the lawyer said was legally owned.
As Fortson returned to his living room, the witness said police burst through the door, saw that the resident was armed and shot him six times.
Mr Crump said the witness believed the officers were in the wrong apartment, as Fortson was alone at the time with no disturbance at his residence.
In a statement released on 4 May, the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said the deputy "reacted in self defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun and after the deputy had identified himself as law enforcement."
According to Mr Crump, Fortson enlisted in the military after graduating from high school in Atlanta, Georgia with honors.
Lewis Musonye
