On May 3, 2024, a Florida Okaloosa County Sheriff Deputy shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson. The deputy, Eddie Duran, was responding to a false, anonymous tip about supposed domestic violence in an apartment complex.

Fortson was playing with his dog and on the phone with his girlfriend. When Roger Fortson realized someone was insistently knocking on the door and demanding entry, he accessed his legally owned pistol, and with the pistol held by his side, pointed at the floor, opened the door.

The deputy immediately shot Fortson several times, then demanded Fortson “drop the gun”. Fortson’s pistol was already on the floor. Fortson was on the floor, mortally wounded, dying.

After an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, Fortson was fired. The Sheriff’s Office did not file criminal charges as the incident was being criminally investigated by an independent agency, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. AmmoLand covered the tragic incident four months ago.

Former deputy Eddie Duran has been charged with manslaughter. He has been arrested. He is currently out on a bond of $100,000.

This horrible tragedy underscores how critical it is to be aware and make the right decisions when a person is considering using deadly force. Duran made some very bad decisions. It cost Roger Fortson his life. His family and others near him will live with the pain of his loss for a very long time. His mother made this statement after former deputy Duran was charged. From wfla.com:

“I hope this brings about change and it teaches others that you can’t just kill people,” his mother Chantemekki Fortson said Friday after learning of the charges. “Because he should have waited for back up. And investigated a little more.”

Former deputy, Eddie Duran is also living a nightmare. The event was on video from beginning to end. All the conversations he had and the information he had were recorded. There is little question about what physically happened in the tragic incident. The questions are all about what happened inside Duran’s head. USAToday reports Eddie Duran faces up to 30 years in prison. When advocating for a lower bail amount, Duran’s lawyer made this comment, as reported by usatoday.com:

“He has spent his entire life, his entire career, and his military career, trying to save people — help people,” Smith said. “He’s not a danger to the community.”

It is always easy to determine what could have been done better, after the fact. We live in an imperfect world. The videos show Deputy Eddie Duran making serious, fatal mistakes. Manslaughter seems an appropriate charge for the jury to decide on.

As with many tragedies, this one had a cascade of errors leading to the final, fatal encounter. Deputy Duran was led to believe that there was a significant history of violence at Fortson’s apartment. There wasn’t any. The initial caller, apparently listening at an air conditioning duct, misinterpreted the interactions of Fortson and his dog, on a video call with his girlfriend, as serious domestic violence. There wasn’t any. The apartment manager thought she had knowledge of problems at the apartment, although she admitted she was not certain if it was the apartment she sent Deputy Duran to.

These errors compounded and likely created a perception of serious danger to Deputy Duran, where none existed. A jury may hear all of this, the dispatcher tapes, and perhaps, testimony from the person who started it all, who has been identified. Duran has already paid a price, and he will be paying more. He is alive. Roger Fortson is not.

Police work is being inexorably altered as digital recording technology creeps into every aspect of our lives. It makes police more honest. It removes some doubts. But body cameras and security cameras are not the entire truth. They do not convey inner thoughts and emotions, motivations, impressions, and reactions. Some of that will fall to the Florida jury.

This correspondent has no doubt Eddie Duran regrets ever being on that call, ever going to that apartment, and most certainly, ever drawing and pulling the trigger on a surprised and innocent Roger Fortson. Perhaps some neighbors will not be so quick to suspect evil of their neighbors. Hopefully other police and deputies will be a bit more careful. It is what Roger Fortson’s mother hopes for.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.