Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Florida sheriffs released body camera footage on Thursday showing a deputy fatally shooting Roger Fortson, a Black active-duty airman, inside his own apartment. Fortson, 23, was shot six times and killed by an unnamed Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy on May 3. Lawyers for Fortson’s family, including civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, had claimed that the deputy who shot Fortson had been sent to the wrong apartment. But at Thursday’s press conference, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden called those claims false.The Okaloosa Sheriff’s Department said a deputy arrived at Fortson’s apartment complex after a disturbance call. In the body camera footage, a resident walks with the deputy, saying she heard loud noises and arguments coming from Fortson’s apartment, and things sounded like they were “getting out of hand.” She gives him Fortson’s unit number.After getting off an elevator, the deputy knocks repeatedly on Fortson’s apartment door, but gets no audible response. He then declares he’s with the sheriff’s department and demands Fortson open the door.Crump said in a statement on Wednesday that Fortson had been on a call video call with his girlfriend at the time. After the deputy knocked, she heard him ask, “Who is it?” according to Crump. Fortson then grabs his gun due to concern for his safety as he was alone in his apartment at the time, attorneys said. After Fortson opens the door, the deputy shouts at him to “step back,” and then immediately fires. After shooting Fortson repeatedly, he tells Fortson to “drop the gun” multiple times. Fortson, already on the ground, replies, “it’s over there.” Aden did not take questions after he showed footage at the press conference. “We pride ourselves in our commitment to transparency and accountability,” Aden told reporters. Crump’s office criticized the deputy’s conduct in the video, noting that he shot first before telling Fortson to put the gun down. “In the four-and-a-half minute, heavily redacted video, it is troubling that the deputy gave no verbal commands and shot multiple times within a split second of the door being opened, killing Roger,” a statement from Crump said Thursday.“Was the officer trained to give verbal warnings? Did the officer try to initiate life-saving measures?” Crump added. “Was the officer trained to deal with law-abiding citizens who are registered gun owners?”In an initial statement on May 7, the sheriff’s office described Fortson as an “armed individual” and claimed that the deputy acted in “self-defense” during the shooting. Aden said Thursday that the deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave, pending an ongoing investigation involving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.Earlier on Thursday, Crump stood by Chantemekki Fortson, Roger’s mother, as she addressed reporters. She held a framed photo of Roger in uniform in her arms as tears rolled down her face.“Roger Fortson was the best that America had to offer. He was a patriot,” Crump told reporters during the press conference Thursday. “He was fighting for our way of life. He was fighting for everybody.”Chantemekki Fortson said Thursday her son was a part of the special missions and aviation unit, and was based at nearby Hubert Field.“He was handpicked. His colonels, all of them have contacted me and told me he was such a special young man,” she told reporters. “Even when I got sick and he wanted to come home, they told him no, because he was so smart, he was so intelligent.” “They don’t know what they took from me,” she added, as family members hugged her.
