A Black U.S. Air Force airman was on the phone with his girlfriend one afternoon when he heard someone pounding on the door of his apartment in the Florida Panhandle.

After looking through the peephole and noticing that it was covered, he grabbed his gun — and sheriff’s deputies stormed inside. His girlfriend, attorneys say, listened in as he was shot six times.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson was shot and killed May 3 in his Fort Walton Beach apartment by deputies with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department. Fort Walton Beach is located between Pensacola and Panama City.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who’s on the team representing Fortson’s family, said deputies were responding to a disturbance call when they entered the wrong unit. Crump, based in Tallahassee, has been involved in several high-profile cases in which Black people were killed at the hands of law enforcement — including Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

“Everyone should be troubled by this,” Crump said during a news conference Thursday. “Any law-abiding citizen who feels they have a right to the Fourth Amendment and Second Amendment should be very troubled by this matter.”

Holding a frame with a photo of her 23-year-old son, Meka Fortson broke down as Crump demanded answers. The attorney urged the sheriff’s office to “do the right thing” and respect Fortson’s name and legacy.

“They took my son,” she said, her voice muffled as she sobbed.

Meka Fortson recounted the day she found out that something happened to her son. She said she rushed to the hospital to see him, and when she entered his hospital room, three men in Air Force uniforms and a black folder with a pen.

“That’s when I knew,” she said.

Attorneys know what happened during — and leading up — to the shooting, because Fortson’s girlfriend witnessed it from a FaceTime call, Crump said. They’re now in the process of obtaining body camera footage.

Earlier that day, Fortson had been playing video games with friends from the Air Force, Crump said. When he arrived home about 30 minutes before the shooting, he called his girlfriend, as he routinely did.

When Fortson heard someone knocking on his door, he asked who it was, Crump said. He didn’t hear a reply, so he looked out of the peephole, but didn’t see anything because it appeared to be covered.

Not knowing who was behind the door, Fortson grabbed his gun, which Crump says was legally obtained.

Fortson’s girlfriend, the attorney said, then heard deputies kick the door — and multiple shots ring out. She overheard deputies walking through the apartment and announcing their presence.

At that point, Fortson was on the ground, struggling to breathe, according to Crump. He had been shot six times, bullets hitting him on the chest and left arm.

Okaloosa Sheriff Eric Aden said he was “saddened” by the shooting. The statement didn’t name Fortson or the deputy who shot him. It also didn’t mention how many times Fortson was hit by the barrage of bullets.

“Late Friday afternoon, our deputy responded to a call of a disturbance in progress where he encountered an armed man,” Aden said in a brief statement Tuesday. “The deputy shot the man, who later succumbed to his injuries.”

The deputy, Aden noted, was placed on administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting.

“At this time, we humbly ask for our community’s patience as we work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event,” the sheriff said.

Crump, however, said deputies knocked on several doors before they burst into the wrong apartment, killing Fortson.

In a camouflage-printed dress, Meka Fortson reminisced about her son, who she called a gift. Affectionately nicknamed “Mr. Make-it-happen,” Fortson enlisted after graduating from high school in Atlanta with the dream of becoming a pilot.

Fortson, she said, was a role model to his four brothers and sisters. He was a quiet kid who blossomed in the Air Force and always sought to take care of his family. He came back to the U.S. from Kuwait, where he was serving, after his mother was hit by a truck in October.

Fortson’s death has left his loved ones in shambles, Crump said. Fellow service members have reached out to the Fortsons to express how special he was to them.

Fortson, Crump added, was “the best America had to offer.” He served in the military, respected authority and was a responsible gun owner.

“Look at that picture. Just look at that picture,” Crump said. “If that doesn’t say patriot, I don’t know what does.”

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