A judge denied bond on Tuesday for a fired deputy in the shooting of a Black U.S. Air Force senior airman who answered his apartment door while holding a gun pointed at the floor.
Former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran, 38, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 shooting death of 23-year-old Roger Fortson. The rare charge against a Florida law enforcement officer is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
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A judge denied bond on Tuesday for a fired deputy in the shooting of a Black U.S. Air Force senior airman who answered his apartment door while holding a gun pointed at the floor.
The apartment complex where Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman was fatally shot by a Fla. sheriff's deputy on May 3, 2024, is seen Friday, Aug. 23, in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
The Okaloosa County Courthouse is seen Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Crestview, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
FILE - U.S. Air Force personnel stand near the coffin of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
Candles and framed photos of Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman who was fatally shot by a Fla. sheriff's deputy on May 3, 2024, sit on Friday, Aug. 23, in the doorway of the apartment where he was killed in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
Judge denies bond for fired deputy in fatal shooting of Black airman
Judge denies bond for fired deputy in fatal shooting of Black airman
FILE - Chantemekki Fortson, mother of slain Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman, holds a photo of her son during a news conference with attorney Ben Crump on Monday, June 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
The judge ordered him held until a Thursday pre-trial detention hearing, despite objections from his lawyer, who said he should be released now.
“They know he’s going to show up,” attorney Rod Smith said. “We believe that he’s no risk, no flight risk. He’s going to show up Thursday, he’s going to show up any time, he need not spend the time in the jail the next few days.”
After the hearing, Smith told The Associated Press that he came to represent Duran as part of the legal team for the Florida Deputy Sheriffs Association. It's a not-for-profit association that offers benefits and services to deputies, he said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.
Smith said he and other defense attorneys disagree with the decision to charge Duran with a crime.
“I would say that we reviewed the case and we believe the case is one in which we disagree with the state and we will proceed from that point and let the judge and jury make that decision,” Smith said.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office initially said Duran fired in self defense after encountering a man with a gun, but Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran on May 31 after an internal investigation concluded his life was not in danger when he opened fire. Outside law enforcement experts have also said that an officer cannot shoot only because a possible suspect is holding a gun if there is no threat.
Fortson had been talking with his girlfriend in a FaceTime video call that recorded audio of the encounter, and Duran's body camera video showed what happened.
Duran had been sent to Fortson’s Fort Walton Beach apartment in response to a domestic disturbance report that turned out to be false. After repeated knocking, Fortson opened the door while holding his handgun at his side, pointed down. Authorities say that Duran shot him multiple times and only then did he tell Fortson to drop the gun.
According to the internal affairs report, Duran told investigators that when Fortson opened the door, he saw aggression in the airman’s eyes. He said he fired because, “I’m standing there thinking I’m about to get shot, I’m about to die.”
Weeks passed after the shooting before the sheriff released an incident report, 911 records or the officer’s identity, despite requests for the information under Florida’s open records act and pressure from the family’s attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
The fatal shooting of the airman at his off-base apartment in the Florida Panhandle was one of a growing list of killings of Black people by law enforcement in their own homes as they’re going about their day. Fortson's death also renewed debate over whether Florida's “Stand Your Ground” law has fostered a “shoot first” climate of vigilantism in which gun owners operate with impunity in killing largely Black people.
Hundreds of Air Force members in dress blues joined Fortson’s family, friends and others at his funeral in a suburban Atlanta megachurch. Forston is from DeKalb County, Georgia, where his family lives on the east side of the Atlanta metropolitan area.
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Martin reported from Atlanta. Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida.
This image taken from video provided by the First Judicial Circuit of Florida shows Eddie Duran in a holding room separate from court in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (First Judicial Circuit of Florida via AP)
The apartment complex where Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman was fatally shot by a Fla. sheriff's deputy on May 3, 2024, is seen Friday, Aug. 23, in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
The Okaloosa County Courthouse is seen Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Crestview, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
FILE - U.S. Air Force personnel stand near the coffin of slain airman Roger Fortson during his funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Friday, May 17, 2024, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
Candles and framed photos of Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman who was fatally shot by a Fla. sheriff's deputy on May 3, 2024, sit on Friday, Aug. 23, in the doorway of the apartment where he was killed in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
Judge denies bond for fired deputy in fatal shooting of Black airman
Judge denies bond for fired deputy in fatal shooting of Black airman
FILE - Chantemekki Fortson, mother of slain Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman, holds a photo of her son during a news conference with attorney Ben Crump on Monday, June 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) — Donald Trump refused on Friday to condemn recent racist and conspiratorial comments from right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to Tuesday night's presidential debate and several 9/11 memorial events.
“Laura’s been a supporter of mine,” Trump told reporters at a press conference near Los Angeles, where he was pressed on concerns from Republican allies about his ongoing association with Loomer, who once declared herself a “proud Islamophobe” and has a long history of promoting ugly and extreme conspiracies.
Trump said Loomer has “strong opinions,” but insisted he was unaware of her recent comments, including a post on X in which she played on racist stereotypes by writing that “the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center” if his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, wins in November. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
“I don’t control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants,” Trump said. “I can’t tell Laura what to do.”
He later said Loomer “brings a spirit to us that a lot of people have," adding that, "in all fairness to her, she hates seeing what's happened to the country."
Loomer’s appearances on the campaign trail with Trump have alarmed some top supporters, who have taken the rare move of publicly airing their concerns that he is hurting his chances against Harris, who is driving up Democratic enthusiasm and repeatedly put Trump on the defensive in Tuesday’s debate. Harris was campaigning Friday across Pennsylvania.
Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Congresswoman known herself for spreading conspiracies, called the post about curry “appalling and extremely racist” and said it did not represent Trump’s “MAGA” movement.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called Loomer “a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans," and said a Democratic party “plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election.”
Trump has a history of association with extremists, including dining last year at his Mar-a-Lago club with Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who had used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric. Trump had said at the time that he “knew nothing about” Fuentes before his dinner with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Harris has not commented publicly on Loomer's ties to Trump. But as has often been the case during his three White House runs, Trump has pulled the presidential campaign this week into a discussion of far-right conspiracies and unsubstantiated rumors with consequences.
He brought up a discredited claim about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, hunting and eating pets at Tuesday's presidential debate watched by more than 67 million people, as Harris repeatedly put him on the defensive about the economy and abortion. The claims — which he has also amplified in social media posts — have driven millions of online conversations, and resulted in serious repercussions for the town.
Bomb threats directed at the homes of Springfield’s mayor and other city officials, as well as Springfield City Hall and schools. prompted the evacuation of schools and government buildings there for a second day on Friday.
Yet Trump's allies, notably his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have repeatedly raised the claims about pets — even as Vance acknowledged they may be false. In recent days, some Republicans have suggested Haitians are targeting ducks and geese in the city. Officials in Springfield have said those claims are unsubstantiated after employees investigated them, and advocates for Haitians warn promoting those claims puts people in danger.
Trump, who has promised if elected again to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, on Friday dismissed concerns from city officials and said his operation would target Springfield.
“The real threat is what’s happening at our border,” he said.
President Joe Biden on Friday said the Haitian community was “under attack” and that the false claims had to stop.
Speaking at a news conference at his Los Angeles-area golf club, Trump unleashed a litany of attacks against Harris and California, as he stood on a cliff overlooking the rugged Pacific Ocean.
“She destroyed San Francisco and she destroyed the state,” Trump said of Harris, who represented California in the Senate and also served as the state’s attorney general and the district attorney of San Francisco before becoming vice president. He accused her of having been soft on crime in her previous positions — something aides had suggested he would focus on during the debate.
Trump, who said he wanted to be known as “the border president,” also continued to rail against the dangers of illegal immigration, claiming that the country has had “thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants.”
In fact, there has been no spike in violent crime nationally or in the major cities where many migrants have settled, and national statistics show violent crime is on the way down.
Harris, meanwhile, was campaigning in Pennsylvania Friday, with stops in Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre, — two counties Trump won in 2016 and 2020 — as she tries to capitalize on her momentum after Tuesday night’s debate.
In Johnstown, she dropped in to meet with owners and supporters at Classic Elements, a bookstore and cafe, to discuss her plans to support small businesses if elected.
“Small businesses are so much part of the fabric of a community,” she told the shop owners. Harris said she would be in the state a lot and that “we got to earn every vote.”
It was her second day of back-to-back rallies after holding two events in North Carolina, another swing state, on Thursday. Her campaign is aiming to hit every market in every battleground state over four days, with stops by Harris, her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and other surrogates in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.
While speaking in Charlotte, Harris took a victory lap for her debate performance in which she needled Trump and kept him on the defensive. Recounting one moment while campaigning in North Carolina, she mocked Trump for saying he had “concepts of a plan” for replacing the Affordable Care Act.
“Concepts. Concepts. No actual plan. Concepts,” she said as the crowd roared with laughter.
Her campaign said she raised $47 million from 600,000 donors in the 24 hours after her debate with Trump.
After appearing at his golf club in upscale Rancho Palos Verdes, Trump was planning to attend a fundraiser in the afternoon in the Bay Area town of Woodside that is being hosted by billionaire software developer Tom Siebel and his wife, Stacey Siebel. Tom Siebel is the second cousin once removed of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and surrogate for Harris.
He then heads to Las Vegas, where he’ll have a rally in the city’s downtown area. Trump was in the city last month for a brief stop to promote his proposal to end federal taxes on workers’ tips, something that’s expected to especially resonate in the tourist city, where much of the service-based economy includes workers who rely on tips. He announced a new proposal Thursday to end taxes on overtime pay.
Madhani reported from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Colvin from New York. Associated Press writers Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles, Chris Megerian in Washington, Melissa Goldin in New York and Tom Verdin in Sacramento contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves to the media as she boards Air Force Two at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria Airport, in Johnstown, Pa. Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris takes a selfie with Sen. John Letterman, D-Pa., and his wife Gisele Barreto Fetterman, after Harris arrived at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria Airport, in Johnstown, Pa., for a campaign event, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Supporters wave as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria Airport, in Johnstown, Pa., for a campaign event, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris takes a selfie with Sen. John Letterman, D-Pa., and his wife Gisele Barreto Fetterman, after Harris arrived at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria Airport, in Johnstown, Pa., for a campaign event, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
