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Former sheriff’s deputy charged with manslaughter for shooting airmen in his home
AmmoLand ^ | September 3, 2024 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 09/10/2024 5:20:23 AM PDT by marktwain

On May 3, 2024, a Florida Okaloosa County Sheriff Deputy shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson. The deputy, Eddie Duran, was responding to a false, anonymous tip about supposed domestic violence in an apartment complex.

Fortson was playing with his dog and on the phone with his girlfriend. When Roger Fortson realized someone was insistently knocking on the door and demanding entry, he accessed his legally owned pistol, and with the pistol held by his side, pointed at the floor, opened the door.

The deputy immediately shot Fortson several times, then demanded Fortson “drop the gun”. Fortson’s pistol was already on the floor. Fortson was on the floor, mortally wounded, dying.

After an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, Fortson was fired. The Sheriff’s Office did not file criminal charges as the incident was being criminally investigated by an independent agency, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. AmmoLand covered the tragic incident four months ago.

Former deputy Eddie Duran has been charged with manslaughter. He has been arrested. He is currently out on a bond of $100,000.

This horrible tragedy underscores how critical it is to be aware and make the right decisions when a person is considering using deadly force. Duran made some very bad decisions. It cost Roger Fortson his life. His family and others near him will live with the pain of his loss for a very long time. His mother made this statement after former deputy Duran was charged. From wfla.com:

“I hope this brings about change and it teaches others that you can’t just kill people,” his mother Chantemekki Fortson said Friday after learning of the charges. “Because he should have waited for back up. And investigated a little more.”


(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: badshoot; bangist; banglist; deputy; donutcop; eddieduran; florida; fortson; killercop; leokillperson; okaloosacounty; rogerfortson
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This was a terrible tragedy, resulting from a series of bad decision, culminating in very bad judgment by the former deputy and the death of innocent Roger Fortson.
1 posted on 09/10/2024 5:20:23 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain
After an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, Fortson was fired.

I assume this means former Deputy Duran was fired.

2 posted on 09/10/2024 5:25:38 AM PDT by MortMan (Charter member of AAAAA - American Association Against Alliteration Abuse)
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To: MortMan

Yes, you are correct. What a horrible mistake! Glad you caught it!


3 posted on 09/10/2024 5:26:58 AM PDT by marktwain (The Republic is at risk. Resistance to the Democratic Party is Resistance to Tyranny. )
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To: marktwain

Police need to show occupants that they are really police before the occupant opens the door. Running a siren and lights would be a good idea.

Never open your door to a stranger without first making sure of who and what he is.

We also need severe penalties for making false police reports (swatting).


4 posted on 09/10/2024 5:27:34 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (Either you will rule. Or you will be ruled. There is no other choice.)
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To: MortMan

Could also mean “we investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong.”


5 posted on 09/10/2024 5:28:31 AM PDT by T. P. Pole
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To: marktwain

” was responding to a false, anonymous tip”

I want to know who swatted him.


6 posted on 09/10/2024 5:32:12 AM PDT by READINABLUESTATE (‘Never trust a man whose uncle was eaten by cannibals’)
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To: marktwain
Some very bad decisions on the part of both parties. Why open the door for a cop when you have a gun in your hand? Do you need to be armed in your own home? And all you nutjobs claiming " I got rights".. ya, in this case the guy was dead right.

2)..Why hire a person to be a cop that is scared to death of the general public?

3)unglued person one meet unglued person 2..

4)Shoot first ask questions later seemed to be the first thing in both men's minds. One of them was quicker on the draw.

7 posted on 09/10/2024 5:33:22 AM PDT by Ikeon (If the we outlaw margarine, the world would be a butter place)
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To: marktwain

Any time a uniformed “public servant” assaults someone, invades someone’s property, threatens someone, or in any other way violates that person, the “public servant” does so “WITH A DEADLY WEAPON”. Punishment of the criminal “public servant” needs to be adjusted accordingly.


8 posted on 09/10/2024 5:37:01 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Ikeon

While on duty. A county sheriff ran over and killed a woman sitting in a chair on the beach in myrtle beach. The family sued the county...The horry county sheriff’s attorney claimed the sheriff’s department wasn’t responsible for him running her over. . Yes, we live in a country that hires anybody.. p.s. it wasn’t the first beach goer he hit, and he soon retired with full benefits.


9 posted on 09/10/2024 5:37:43 AM PDT by Ikeon (If the we outlaw margarine, the world would be a butter place)
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To: Ikeon
Why open the door for someone CLAIMING to be a cop when you have a gun in your hand?

Answer: Because it might not even be a cop!

Regards,

10 posted on 09/10/2024 5:38:38 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Ikeon

4)Shoot first ask questions later seemed to be the first thing in both men’s minds. One of them was quicker on the draw.

~~~

If I read it right, the occupant didn’t know it was a cop.
If I thought someone dangerous was trying to make entry (for one thing, I wouldn’t open the door) I would freeze if I saw a cop in uniform if I was expecting an intruder.

You don’t want to hesitate, but you don’t want to shoot someone you know by mistake, or shoot law enforcement because that will never end well for you I don’t care how good your case is.

Didn’t this guy have a peep hole?
I don’t understand why he opened the door, unless he knew it was a cop though. But if he knew it was a cop, why did he have a gun out?


11 posted on 09/10/2024 5:38:55 AM PDT by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: marktwain

AirMAN, nor Airmen’...............Lived up the street from me.................


12 posted on 09/10/2024 5:39:01 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: marktwain
"...with the pistol held by his side, pointed at the floor, opened the door."

That's how I open my door when not expecting someone, (like folks coming over for a Bible study, etc).

13 posted on 09/10/2024 5:39:31 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("You'll never hear surf music again" - J. Hendrix)
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To: Ikeon
"Do you need to be armed in your own home? And all you nutjobs claiming " I got rights".."

Are you sure you're an American?

Familiar at all with the 2nd and 4th Amendments?

14 posted on 09/10/2024 5:42:14 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("You'll never hear surf music again" - J. Hendrix)
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To: Ikeon
Why open the door for a cop when you have a gun in your hand?

Better question: Why open the door for a cop at all? They're not "here to help you". Ever.

Do you need to be armed in your own home?

Yes. Anyone who feels otherwise hasn't thought the matter through completely.

.Why hire a person to be a cop that is scared to death of the general public?

They aren't really scared to death. They're just violent thugs who get off on abusing people. Why hire them? The people doing the hiring are also just violent thugs who get off on abusing people.

Your comments give the appearance of making excuses for the violent thug who killed an innocent man.

15 posted on 09/10/2024 5:42:17 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: SauronOfMordor

How do you think that Fortson should have answered? I think I would have answered like he did, and I would be just as dead. You have to be aware that Barney Fife is alive and well, and instead of one bullet, he has a mag with 15 bullets in it.


16 posted on 09/10/2024 5:51:01 AM PDT by silent majority rising (When it is dark enough, men see the stars. Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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To: NorthMountain
Your comments give the appearance of making excuses for the violent thug who killed an innocent man.

You'll always find on this site a subset of lowbrow chuds who'll defend "law enforcement" no matter what. Such types may think of themselves as "conservatives," but all they really are are knee-jerk "law-and-order" types who are as much a threat to our liberties as any far-Left statist.

17 posted on 09/10/2024 5:51:02 AM PDT by DSH
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To: marktwain
Police need to show occupants that they are really police before the occupant opens the door.

NOPE.

No search warrant? No arrest warrant? No exigent circumstances?

YOU DON'T HAVE TO OPEN THE DOOR.

18 posted on 09/10/2024 5:51:15 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (Inter arma enim silent leges! - Cicero )
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To: silent majority rising

When they kick at your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of your gun

-The Clash The Guns of Brixton


19 posted on 09/10/2024 5:52:37 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: READINABLUESTATE
I want to know who swatted him.

That person or persons should also be charged with murder.

20 posted on 09/10/2024 5:53:49 AM PDT by Theophilus (covfefe)
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