The complaint alleges that Deputy Eddie Duran used excessive and unconstitutional deadly force when he shot Roger Fortson just seconds after the Black senior airman opened his apartment door in Fort Walton Beach on May 3, 2024. Duran was responding to a domestic disturbance report at Fortson’s apartment that turned out to be false.

“I want accountability because he was 23. I want accountability because he had a life ahead of him. I want accountability because he was in his own home,” said Fortson’s mother, Meka Fortson, who wore a shirt emblazoned with an image of her son in his Air Force uniform while appearing with the family’s attorney, Ben Crump, at a press conference to announce the wrongful death lawsuit.

The complaint filed in federal court in Pensacola details alleged failures by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in training and supervision and claims that staff at the apartment complex where Fortson lived provided misleading information that led to the fatal law enforcement response.