FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — A Florida sheriff’s deputy announced himself as law enforcement just before fatally shooting a Black U.S. Air Force airman inside his apartment in the state’s Panhandle, according to body camera video shown to reporters Thursday.
Noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson’s family, earlier had asked the sheriff’s office for transparency and disputed the narrative authorities released following the May 3 shooting. Email and text messages were sent to Crump on Thursday afternoon seeking comment about what the bodycam footage showed and the sheriff’s describing as inaccurate Crump’s statements that the deputy went to the wrong apartment and didn’t announce himself.
The sheriff’s office has declined to identify the responding deputies or their races. Officials have said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting. Crump said Fortson had always wanted to join the U.S. Air Force and enlisted after graduating high school. He was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field. As a special missions aviator, one of his roles was to load the gunship’s cannons during missions.
At the hospital, deputies approached Chantemekki Fortson, and she told them, “’You guys have killed my baby. Just take me to my baby please. I just want to see my child,’” she recounted at the news conference.
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