{"id":417901,"date":"2026-10-03T18:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T18:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417901\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T18:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T18:12:14","slug":"former-florida-deputy-acquitted-in-killing-of-black-airman-roger-fortson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417901\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Florida deputy acquitted in killing of Black airman Roger Fortson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The jury cleared Eddie Duran of manslaughter more than two years after he shot the 23-year-old Air Force senior airman inside his Florida apartment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A Florida jury has acquitted former Okaloosa County sheriff&#8217;s deputy Eddie Duran of manslaughter in the 2024 killing of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The verdict came more than two years after Duran shot the 23-year-old Black airman at his Fort Walton Beach apartment. Duran had previously been <a data-ylk=\"slk:charged with manslaughter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/thegrio.com\/2024\/08\/24\/eddie-duran-charged-manslaughter-death-of-roger-fortson\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">charged with manslaughter<\/a> after an internal investigation found his use of deadly force was unreasonable, while <a data-ylk=\"slk:body camera footage;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/thegrio.com\/2024\/05\/10\/body-camera-video-shows-fatal-shooting-of-black-airman-by-florida-deputy-in-apartment-doorway\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">body camera footage<\/a> showed Fortson opening his door with a handgun pointed toward the floor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jurors found Duran <a data-ylk=\"slk:not guilty;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/e71f034f7aad4403f97f00c35368b69f\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">not guilty<\/a> Thursday after a four-day trial and about two hours of deliberations. He had faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The shooting occurred on May 3, 2024, after Duran responded to a reported domestic disturbance at Fortson&#8217;s apartment complex. Fortson was home alone and on a video call with his girlfriend. Authorities later determined he was not involved in the reported disturbance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Body camera video showed Fortson answer his door while holding his legally owned handgun at his side, pointed down. Duran fired six times within seconds. The Okaloosa County Sheriff&#8217;s Office fired him later that month after an internal investigation concluded Fortson did not make hostile or attacking movements and Duran&#8217;s life was not in danger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At trial, Duran&#8217;s attorneys argued he acted in self-defense and followed his training. Prosecutors argued that seeing Fortson holding a gun did not by itself justify deadly force. The State Attorney&#8217;s Office said after the verdict that the jury had determined prosecutors did not prove manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fortson&#8217;s family and civil rights attorney Ben Crump said they were heartbroken by the acquittal and would continue seeking accountability. The family is pursuing a federal civil rights lawsuit over the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fortson served as a special missions aviator with the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field. The Air Force posthumously awarded him the Air and Space Commendation Medal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A federal civil rights lawsuit from Fortson&#8217;s family against Duran remains pending.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">More must-reads:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The jury cleared Eddie Duran of manslaughter more than two years after he shot the 23-year-old Air Force&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-417901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}