Former deputy acquitted in killing of Airman Roger Fortson

A Florida jury has acquitted former Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy Eddie Duran of manslaughter in the killing of Senior Airman Roger Fortson, closing the state criminal case with a not-guilty verdict while leaving a federal civil-rights lawsuit unresolved. Jurors returned the verdict October 1 after a four-day trial and roughly two hours of deliberation. Duran had faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Fortson was 23 when Duran shot him at the door of his Fort Walton Beach apartment on May 3, 2024. Duran had responded to a reported domestic disturbance, but Fortson was alone and speaking with his girlfriend by phone. Reporting from the trial says the complaint did not involve Fortson. His family has long maintained that the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment.

Body-camera video became central to both the public response and the trial. It shows Duran knocking, stepping to the side of the doorway and announcing the sheriff’s office. Fortson opened the door holding a legally owned handgun down at his side. Duran fired almost immediately. The video does not show Fortson pointing the weapon at the deputy, and Fortson never fired it. He died later at a hospital.

What the verdict does—and does not—decide

The jury’s verdict means prosecutors did not prove manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt; it does not erase the administrative finding that followed the shooting. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office fired Duran in June 2024 after its internal investigation concluded that Fortson’s actions did not justify deadly force and that Duran’s use of force was not objectively reasonable.

Duran’s defense argued that he followed his training after seeing an armed man at the door and faced what he perceived as an imminent threat. Defense attorney Rod Smith said after the verdict that the shooting was a tragedy rather than a crime. Prosecutors had asked jurors to focus on whether Duran’s fear and split-second decision were legally reasonable under the circumstances shown in the video.

The office of State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden said it accepted the verdict and acknowledged that it would bring pain, anger and disappointment, especially for people who understand Fortson’s death within the national history of encounters between law enforcement and Black communities. The office also stressed that a not-guilty verdict does not diminish Fortson’s life, service or humanity.

The family’s civil case continues

For Fortson’s family, the verdict is not the end of the legal fight. Attorney Ben Crump said the family is heartbroken but will continue pursuing its federal civil-rights case against Duran, Sheriff Eric Aden and others. That lawsuit is a separate civil proceeding with a different legal standard; the criminal acquittal does not decide its outcome. No civil judgment or settlement was established in the sources reviewed for this report.

Fortson served as a special missions aviator with the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field. His work placed him aboard AC-130J Ghostrider gunships, and the Air Force later awarded him the Air and Space Commendation Medal for meritorious service. Fellow airmen have continued to honor him, including through a memorial ruck held at Hurlburt Field in April 2026.

Questions the acquittal leaves open

The case has carried particular weight because Fortson was in his own home, had committed no crime and possessed his firearm legally. The verdict answers the narrow criminal question that jurors were asked to decide about Duran. It does not settle the broader questions raised by the shooting: how officers should respond to lawful gun possession, how dispatch information and apartment identification shape deadly encounters, or what accountability should look like when an internal review finds force unreasonable but a jury does not find a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

Those questions now move outside the state courtroom. The family’s civil case can examine policies, training and responsibility through a different process. Any future claims about that lawsuit should be measured against court filings and rulings, not assumptions based on this acquittal. Fortson’s family has asked that his life be remembered beyond the final seconds captured on body camera—as a son, brother and decorated airman whose service mattered.