FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The mother of a U.S. Air Force airman shot and killed by a Florida sheriff's deputy nearly two years ago says she doesn't want people to forget about her son and is still seeking accountability so it doesn't happen to someone else.
Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was shot to death by a deputy responding to a disturbance call at Fortson's apartment in Fort Walton Beach, where he lived while based at nearby Hurlburt Field. The May 2024 encounter was captured on body camera video.
At a Tuesday news conference in Florida, prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson's family in an ongoing federal lawsuit, said it was his mother's decision to hold the media briefing.
“She is deeply hurt and concerned that time has allowed her son’s name and his life to fade from public consciousness,” Crump said.
“We are not here to litigate facts or comment on ongoing legal proceedings," he added. "We are here because silence, delay and distance have a human cost for families who are left to grieve while waiting for answers.”
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden fired Deputy Eddie Duran, 38, who fatally shot Fortson after being directed to Fortson's apartment while responding to a domestic violence call. Duran was charged with manslaughter with a firearm, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. It's a rarely seen criminal case filed against a Florida law officer.
Two Florida attorneys representing Duran did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Fortson’s mother, Chantimekki Fortson, said she still has many unanswered questions about the case.
“I need to know what happened to my baby,” she said.
“I have to try to learn how to live life without Roger,” she added. "I don’t think I’m going to ever learn that.”
Crump added that Fortson's mother wants to know: "How could it have been prevented and how can we make sure that it doesn’t happen to anyone else’s family?” he said.
Fortson's family is from Georgia. Hundreds of Air Force members in dress blues mourned Fortson at his funeral outside Atlanta.
FILE - Attorney Ben Crump, center left, speaks during a news conference with Chantemekki Fortson, mother of slain U.S. Air Force senior airman Roger Fortson, June 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
FILE - Chantemekki Fortson, mother of slain U.S. Air Force senior airman Roger Fortson, holds a photo of her son during a news conference with attorney Ben Crump on June 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — A second suspect in the stray-bullet killing of a 7-month-old baby on a Brooklyn street was arrested Friday, police said, two days after a shooting the police commissioner called “a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience.”
Matthew Rodriguez, 18, was apprehended in Pennsylvania by New York Police Department detectives working with U.S. Marshals, the NYPD said.
The suspected shooter, 21-year-old Amuri Greene, was arrested shortly after the drive-by gunfire that killed Kaori Patterson-Moore. Greene pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges at an arraignment Friday night.
Kaori was in her stroller when a two men sped down a street on a moped Wednesday afternoon. Greene, riding on the back of the vehicle, fired into a group of people on a street corner, according to a court complaint.
Kaori's mother, Lianna Charles-Moore, told the New York Post that after hearing what she initially believed were fireworks, she was comforting her startled 2-year-old son — who had been grazed by a bullet — when she looked to her left and saw her baby daughter bleeding. The infant had been shot in the head.
“My daughter was innocent. She didn’t deserve that," Charles-Moore told the newspaper. She said her daughter was just about starting to crawl and had recently begun saying “Mama.”
Greene told police he was aiming for another person in the crowd, according to the court complaint.
Police said the moped sped and crashed into a car two blocks away, hurling both men off the vehicle. Greene was injured and soon was hospitalized in police custody, but the moped driver fled.
Authorities haven't yet released court papers that detail Rodriguez's alleged role. But they haven't indicated they were looking for anyone other than the gunman — alleged to have been Greene — and the moped driver.
Greene was being held without bail after his arraignment. A voice message seeking comment was left with his attorney.
Police didn't immediately have information on how the men are connected or where Rodriguez lives; no working telephone number for him could immediately be found. Police charges against him were pending.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch expressed heartbreak and outrage over Kaori's death.
“This is a terrible day in our city, a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience,” Tisch said at a news briefing Wednesday.
This image taken from video provided by the New York Police Department shows New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, flanked by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, left, and Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, speaking during a news conference, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in New York. (NYPD via AP)
