{"id":417999,"date":"2026-10-03T21:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T21:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417999\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T21:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T21:06:20","slug":"florida-jury-finds-ex-sheriffs-deputy-not-guilty-in-shooting-death-of-black-air-force-airman-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417999\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida jury finds ex-sheriff\u2019s deputy not guilty in shooting death of Black air force airman | Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Florida<\/a> jury recently found former sheriff\u2019s deputy Eddie Duran not guilty of manslaughter<\/a> with a firearm in the fatal shooting of Roger Fortson, a Black US air force airman who was killed inside his apartment after authorities responded to an unfounded report of a domestic disturbance.<\/p>\n

An Okaloosa county jury acquitted Duran, 38, on Thursday after about two hours of deliberations. He had faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n

Duran, who is Hispanic, was an Okaloosa county sheriff\u2019s deputy in May 2024 when he was sent to Fortson\u2019s apartment in Fort Walton Beach where Fortson \u2013 originally from Atlanta<\/a> \u2013 was stationed.<\/p>\n

Authorities have said Duran was directed to the apartment after a report of a domestic disturbance that turned out to be false.<\/p>\n

After Duran repeatedly knocked on the door, Fortson<\/a> answered while holding a handgun at his side with the weapon pointed toward the ground. Authorities say Duran fired multiple times before telling Fortson to drop the gun. The encounter was captured on the deputy\u2019s body camera.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s verdict came after a four-day trial.<\/p>\n

One day after Duran was acquitted, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said that Fortson\u2019s family would continue its legal fight and vowed to \u201cseek accountability\u201d through the civil court system for the 2024 shooting.<\/p>\n

While the criminal prosecution has ended with Duran\u2019s acquittal, a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Fortson\u2019s family remains pending.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoger\u2019s life and his service will always matter,\u201d Crump said in a statement<\/a> on Friday. \u201cHis family will keep fighting for him, and we will stand with them as they pursue their civil rights case in federal court and seek accountability for the tragic loss of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran was fired from the Okaloosa sheriff\u2019s office after killing Fortson. His defense attorney argued that the former deputy was \u201cdoing his job\u201d and said Fortson would still be alive if he had not armed himself before answering the door.<\/p>\n

Fortson\u2019s mother, Chantemekki Fortson, told the Atlanta news outlet WXIA<\/a> she was unsurprised by the verdict, citing the speed of the jury\u2019s deliberations. \u201cThey went to deliberate for just two hours,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, again, I wasn\u2019t surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said the trial forced her to face details surrounding her son\u2019s death that she had spent the previous two years trying to avoid.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I can\u2019t do that,\u201d she told WXIA. \u201cLike he\u2019s really gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never coming back. He\u2019s never gonna say, \u2018Mom, what you doing? Mom, you wanna go get something to eat? Mom, you need do your hair.\u2019 Like I\u2019m never going to hear my baby\u2019s voice no more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Florida jury recently found former sheriff\u2019s deputy Eddie Duran not guilty of manslaughter with a firearm in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-417999","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\/417999","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=417999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}