Judge denies bail to fired deputy sheriff after fatal shooting of black pilot

A judge on Tuesday denied bail for a fired police officer in connection with the shooting. Black senior aviator of the US Air Force who opened his apartment door while pointing a gun at the ground.

Former Okaloosa County Deputy Eddie Duran, 38, has been charged with manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 shooting death of 23-year-old Roger Fortson. This rare charge against a police officer in Florida is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

The judge ordered his detention pending a detention hearing on Thursday, despite objections from his lawyer, who said he should be released immediately.

“They know he’s going to show up,” Attorney Rod Smith he said. “We believe he is not a threat, not a flight risk. He will show up on Thursday, he will show up any time, he does not have to spend the next few days in jail.”

After the hearing, Smith told the Associated Press he came to represent Duran as part of the legal team for the Florida Deputy Sheriffs Association, a nonprofit that provides benefits and services to deputies, he said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

Smith said he and the other defense attorneys disagreed with the decision to prosecute Duran.

“I would say we have reviewed the case and believe we disagree with the state on this one. From this point, we will move forward and leave the decision to the judge and jury,” 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 Duran was fired on May 31 after an internal investigation concluded that his life was not in danger when he opened fire. External law enforcement experts have also said that an officer cannot shoot simply because a possible suspect is holding a gun if there is no threat.

Fortson had spoken to his girlfriend via FaceTime video call, during which the encounter was also recorded, and Duran's bodycam video showed what happened.

Duran had been dispatched to Fortson's Fort Walton Beach apartment for filing a domestic disturbance report that turned out to be false. After repeated knocks, Fortson opened the door while holding his gun down. Authorities say Duran shot him multiple times, only then ordering Fortson to drop the gun.

According to the internal investigation report, Duran told investigators that when Fortson opened the door, he saw aggression in the pilot'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 lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump.

The fatal shooting of the pilot in his apartment outside the base in the Florida Panhandle was one of many murders of blacks by the police in their own homes while going about their daily lives. Fortson's death was also renewed debate about whether Florida's “Stand Your Ground” law has fostered a climate of “shoot first” vigilantism in which gun owners kill predominantly black people with impunity.

Hundreds of members of the Air Force in blue uniforms joined Fortson's familyFriends and others at his funeral in a megachurch in a suburb of Atlanta. Fortson is from DeKalb County, Georgia, where his family lives in the east of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

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Martin reported from Atlanta. Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida.