Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office releases 911 calls regarding Roger Fortson shooting
OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has released 911 calls from before and after deputies responded to the apartment where U.S. Air Force Airman Roger Fortson would later be shot and killed.
The first 911 call came in from a front desk worker at the apartment complex who said they received a report of people fighting but explained they were not allowed to go there and confront them, which is why she called the sheriff’s office.
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The caller gave the dispatcher the address of the Chez Elan Apartments and said the disturbance was in apartment 1401. Previously released body camera video showed the deputy did respond to apartment 1401, which is where Fortson lived.
“A few weeks ago I was walking on the sidewalk, like, it was close to their apartment, and I was hearing, like, someone like a guy yelling at a girl saying like, ‘shut the f*** up, like, you stupid b****’ or something like that, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. So, by what she’s saying that might have been them” said the 911 caller.
The dispatcher then let the caller know deputies were on the scene before the call ended.
The second call came in from a woman who said she heard people who had been arguing for over an hour at the time she called. The dispatcher then asked the caller if she had heard anything else, which is when she said, “I just heard, like, something that sounded like three or four gunshots and then a bunch of running and screaming.”
Fortson was shot and killed by a deputy at the apartment complex on May 3, according to previous reporting. The body camera footage showed deputies knocking on Fortson’s door before he answered with a gun in his hand hanging by his side. The deputy then pulls out his gun and fires shots at Fortson.
His family, along with Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, held a news conference days later to discuss what happened.
“We are here at this press conference mainly because we have to correct this narrative,” said Crump. “Roger Fortson was the best America had to offer. He was a patriot.”
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OCSO Sheriff Eric Aden held a press conference two hours after the family’s press conference where he released the body camera footage.
The funeral for Fortson was held at New Birth Missionary Church just outside of Atlanta on May 17.
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