Senior Airman Roger Fortson. | Source: U.S. Air Force
Roger Fortson‘s funeral is scheduled to be held on Friday morning as unanswered questions continue to mount more than two weeks after the 23-year-old U.S. Air Force Senior Airman was gunned down by an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy in his own Florida apartment under controversial circumstances.
Keep reading to find out how to pay your respects online to Fortson by watching his funeral via a livestream.
Fortson’s homegoing service is set to be held at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia. Rev. Jamal Bryant, the pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, will be the funeral’s officiant and is also set to deliver the eulogy. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Fortson’s family, will deliver a call to action at the funeral, which is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. local time.
The funeral comes one day after a public viewing, wake and visitation took place from noon to 7 p.m. at the Donald Trimble Mortuary in Decatur.
Also on Thursday, Fortson’s family was joined by Pastor Bryant and attorney Crump at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church where new evidence in the shooting death was revealed.
What happened to Roger Fortson?
Fortson was shot in his own apartment on May 3 within seconds of opening his front door after an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy responded aggressively to a report of a domestic “disturbance” that a witness claims never existed at that location.
Less than a week after Fortson was killed, the initial shooting narrative provided by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has been undermined by that witness – Fortson’s girlfriend – who said the police responded to the wrong apartment.
Bodycam video footage made public last week shows the deputy banging loudly on an apartment door. When Fortson – possibly suspecting an intruder – answered the door while brandishing a legally owned gun that was facing down, the deputy immediately opened fire and shot the young Airman six times.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office claimed the deputy fired out of “self defense” and that other cops on the scene rendered medical aid, but Fortson’s girlfriend suggested otherwise and shared video footage proving it, attorneys said. The footage is from a FaceTime call she and Fortson were having when he was shot.
Fortson’s family suggested in a statement after watching the bodycam video of the shooting that the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office was not being entirely truthful.
Fortson’s family said they are “adamant that the police had the wrong apartment as Roger was on the phone with his girlfriend for a substantial amount of time leading up to the shooting, and no one else was in the apartment.”
On Friday at the press conference, Crump pointed to the police bodycam video footage and its transcript in particular to provide evidence that 1) Fortson’s finger was not on his gun’s trigger when he answered the door; 2) the police were told before knocking on Fortson’s door that there was a female inside; and 3) a police dispatcher told the deputy that the information they had about the reported domestic disturbance may not be that reliable.
Fortson’s funeral
Fortson’s body was delivered to his family via a dignified transfer on Tuesday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in preparation for the funeral on Friday.
To watch a livestream of Riger Fortson’s funeral, people are encouraged to log on to the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church’s website by clicking here.
A livestream of Roger Fortson’s funeral via the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church’s YouTube page can also be found below.
Following the funeral Friday, Fortson’s body is expected to be laid to rest at the Lincoln Cemetery in Atlanta, according to a death notice posted online.
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