A former Florida sheriff's deputy has been found not guilty of manslaughter with a firearm in the killing of a Black U.S. Air Force airman fatally shot at his apartment during a domestic disturbance call.
An Okaloosa County jury acquitted Eddie Duran, 38, on Thursday. Duran had faced up to 30 years in prison.
Duran, who is Hispanic, worked for the Okaloosa County sheriff's department in May 2024 when he responded to Roger Fortson's Fort Walton Beach apartment near Hurlburt Field, where the airman was stationed.
The sheriff's office had said the deputy “reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun.” The shooting was captured on the deputy's body camera.
The video shows the deputy banging on the door and stepping aside, seemingly out of view of the door. Twice he shouted: “Sheriff’s office! Open the door!”
Fortson opened the door and could be seen holding what appeared to be a handgun pointed down toward the floor. The deputy shouted, “Step back!” and fired off shots. He then shouted, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!”
“It’s over there,” Fortson said.
“Drop the gun!” the deputy yelled back.
“I don’t have it,” Fortson said, lying on the ground.
The deputy then called paramedics on his radio.
Fortson later died at a hospital. The domestic disturbance report that led Duran to Fortson’s apartment turned out to be false.
After the shooting, authorities said Fortson was alone in the apartment and on the phone with his girlfriend.
Fortson was assigned as a missions operator to the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field. He was a member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider aircrew, which loads the gunship’s 30 mm and 105 mm cannons during missions.
The State Attorney’s office prosecuted Duran and said in a news release that it accepts the jury’s verdict, which means the state “did not prove the criminal charge beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of every juror.”
“We understand that this verdict will cause pain, anger, or disappointment for many people, particularly some members of the community who view Senior Airman Fortson’s death within a context of encounters nationally involving law enforcement,” the State Attorney's office said. “Those reactions should not be dismissed.”
Duran was fired after an internal sheriff’s office investigation later determined his life was not in danger when he shot Fortson.
Duran’s attorney, Rod Smith, said the shooting was a police officer safety issue and that Duran went to Fortson’s apartment “to find out what was going on based on a complaint from a neighbor.”
“None of this needed to happen,” Smith told The Associated Press on Friday. “(Fortson) absolutely knew a police officer was at the door. Deputy Duran, himself, was also a victim of a terrible tragedy. He had followed his training. The guy answered the door with a semiautomatic pistol in his hand.”
It is highly unusual for Florida law enforcement officers to be charged for an on-duty killing — it has only happened four times in the last 35 years before Fortson's killing. Even then, only one of those officers was convicted.
“Deputies perform essential and often dangerous work every day, and are entitled to the same presumption of innocence and fair process as everyone else accused of a crime,” the State Attorney’s office said. "At the same time, the authority to use deadly force must remain subject to independent review. Presenting disputed evidence to a jury is part of that accountability and is essential to public trust.”
Fortson’s killing renewed looks at controversial “Stand Your Ground” laws in Florida and some other states where gun owners can claim self-defense after carrying out shootings. Critics have denounced them as “shoot first” laws that have created a climate of vigilantism in which gun owners operate with impunity in largely killing Black people.
Fortson carried his legally owned handgun to the door of his apartment after hearing banging noises that ended up being a sheriff’s deputy. It was the deputy who opened fire, not Fortson.
A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed last year by Fortson's family against Duran, Sheriff Eric Aden and others, according to Ben Crump, a prominent attorney who represents the family in the lawsuit.
“This is a painful moment for everyone who loved Roger Fortson, and his family is heartbroken," Crump said in a statement. “His family has lived with that loss every day for more than two years, and this verdict is incredibly hard for them.”
Williams reported from Detroit.
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)
DETROIT (AP) — A group of environmental organizations sued the Trump administration on Friday over its recent relaxation of key vehicle fuel economy rules, a decision that the group says will make vehicles less efficient, contribute to more pollution and increase gas consumption.
On Monday, the Trump administration lowered Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards that set out how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. The announcement was made as the Trump administration negotiated with Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
About a fifth of the world's oil passes through the strait on a typical day, and the fight over its control has sent energy prices soaring across the globe.
The environmental groups filed the petition for review Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals against Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Jonathan Morrison, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the rules.
“We’re taking the Trump administration to court for this reckless rollback that prioritizes Big Oil and automaker profits over American families,” Katherine Garcia, director of Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All program, said in a statement. “It is unlawful for Trump to turn back the clock on fuel-efficient cars, forcing drivers to waste more money on gas and communities to breathe toxic air.”
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund and Public Citizen, along with the Sierra Club, filed the suit.
The Transportation Department and NHTSA earlier this week lowered the standards to an industry fleetwide average of roughly 34.9 miles per gallon for passenger cars and light trucks in the 2031 model year, down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon under rules set by the Biden administration.
The administration said the change would provide Americans more vehicle choice and encourage consumers to buy newer, safer vehicles. Experts say reducing fuel economy requirements in vehicles does not necessarily lower their cost, nor would it automatically translate to new vehicle sales.
Duffy said the new rule also cuts the “illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles that American families didn’t want.”
There has never been a mandate that manufacturers sell EVs or Americans buy them; the rules and other cleaner vehicle standards incentivized automakers to sell a mix of electric, hybrid electric and increasingly-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles.
The Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did not immediately respond to The Associated Press request for comment.
Auto companies and industry groups broadly welcomed Monday's change, saying the rules under the Biden administration were too stringent and did not benefit consumers.
But environmental organizations decried the changes.
“With gas prices at historic highs, Trump picked the worst possible time to roll back federal mileage standards,” David Pettit, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement. “Oil companies will profit from less efficient cars, but drivers will take a hit to their wallets and our kids will breathe dirtier air. We’ll all pay the price for more tailpipe pollutants spewing everywhere from playgrounds to wild places. We’re asking the courts to put a stop to this callous giveaway to Big Oil and Big Auto.”
Gas prices have hovered around $4.50 and diesel has hit unprecedented heights in recent weeks, according to AAA.
The DOT said Monday that the rule would cut yearly oil consumption in 2050 by about 1.3 billion barrels as compared with yearly oil consumption in 2024, but NHTSA had estimated the 2024 standards would have saved 14 billion gallons of gasoline from being burned by that year.
Fuel economy requirements have been in place since the 1970s energy crisis, and over time, have led to improved average efficiency in vehicles.
President Donald Trump has made a number of moves to undercut cleaner vehicles in the U.S. These include eliminating electric vehicle tax credits; scrapping vehicle emissions standards; repealing the fines for automakers who don’t meet mileage rules; and attempting to block the nation’s EV charging buildout.
Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.
Read more of AP’s climate coverage.
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FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during an event on fuel economy standards in the Oval Office of the White House, Dec. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
