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Mid Bay News received a heavily redacted police report and 911 call from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s office concerning the shooting and killing of Senior Airman Roger Fortson on May 3.
The report lists four witnesses and two victims, one of whom is Fortson and the other a law enforcement officer on duty – according to the report.
All witnesses and one Sheriff’s deputy listed in the affidavit had their names redacted. The affidavit lists more than 30 pieces of evidence collected at the scene. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office records department redacted all evidence.
The end of the report lists all of the responding Sheriff’s deputy personnel, including civilian department members. Only one name is redacted.
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The readout from the dispatch call log the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office released to Mid Bay News shows that the initial call to Okaloosa County came in at 4:24 in the afternoon from a front desk worker at the Chez Élan apartment building regarding a domestic dispute that was reported to the worker by another tenant. On the phone, you can hear a female voice identifying as an employee of the complex. She then told the dispatcher that another resident had talked to her and told her about a loud verbal dispute. The complex employee then tells her that employees of the building must call in issues to law enforcement and allow them to handle it. The caller, who called the Sheriff’s office non-emergency line, told the dispatcher that the apartment in question was apartment 1401 – Fortson’s home. The caller then claimed that she lived near Fortson’s apartment and heard an argument coming from Fortson’s apartment that sounded aggressive in the past.
At 4:28 PM, the dispatch log notes that an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy had contacted the caller at the apartment. The next record in the log, at 4:31, reports shots fired. Five seconds later, a report saying the subject “was down” came into the log.
Thirty-three seconds after the ‘subject down’ entry into the log – another entry notes that a black male was “bleeding profusely,” though the call log does not say why.
Another 9-1-1 call, which began at 4:34, comes into dispatch. On the other end of the line is a woman’s voice filled with concern. She tells dispatch she’s heard arguing coming from an apartment in her complex.
After the dispatcher takes her information, which is redacted from the call – she asks the caller if she’s heard anything else. “I just heard three or four gunshots,” the woman’s voice replies, “and then a bunch of running and screaming. And I know there’s a kid up there – so that’s why I’m freaking out.”
“We have deputies on scene right now,” the dispatcher responds, “for your safety right now, just stay in your apartment… We’re trying to clear the scene, too.”
“Is everybody ok?” the caller asks.
“I can’t answer that,” the dispatcher responds, “but we do have help on the way.”
at 4:38, seven minutes after deputies called the shooting in, Okaloosa EMS arrived on the scene to aid Fortson. They note, according to the readout, that there is significant trauma to Fortson’s body as a result of the trauma.
At 4:47, two things happen. First, the call log shows that EMS loaded Fortson onto an ambulance, some sixteen minutes after the shooting took plce at the apartment. Five seconds later, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative Division is notified about the shooting.
By 5:10 PM, the call log notes that a woman claiming to be Fortson’s sister had called the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office looking for more information about what happened at Fortson’s apartment.
At 5:23 PM Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputies called for a K-9 Unit to go to the scene.
Some four hours after the shooting, a Staff Sergeant from Hurlburt Field calls to inquire about details of the shooting.
The Okaloosa County Sherriff’s Office has not named the deputy who shot Fortson – but a spokesperson for the organization says the Sheriff’s Office placed the deputy on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement handles all cases when an officer is involved in a shooting throughout the state.
