are they fighting or something that it happens okay but this time like out okay which St Sheriff's Office open the [Music] door sh office open the door [Music] 23-year-old Roger forson a US Air Force senior Airman was just shot dead by police in Okaloosa County Florida Today the sheriff of Okaloosa County held a press conference where he showed the body cam footage here are my initial thoughts upon watching that body cam footage did the officer act properly or did he violate the constitution in my opinion the body cam shows conclusively the answer to that good afternoon I'm Eric Aiden I'm the sheriff of Okaloosa County with the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office a few moments ago I personally met with Mrs forson and the forson family extended my deepest condolences to them and this result is one we never hope to encounter and I'm also thinking about our team here and the deputy involved in the tragic event I'm here this afternoon to further assure Miss fortson's family our dedicated team and Community we serve and the broader public that we are doing what we can to ensure the facts of this case are fully understood I've asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to handle the criminal investigation that is required under these circumstances it is important to note that while this is a criminal investigation no determination has been made as to whether the deputy's actions were Justified or not here in Okaloosa County we pride ourselves in our commitment to transparency and accountability what we do know at this time is that the deputy did announce himself not once but twice Mr fortson's comments indicate that he did acknowledge it was law enforcement at the door and he arrived at the door with a firearm in his hand the deputy knocked on the correct door he did not cover the peephole or otherwise obscure its view in any way you will see the things that I just mentioned on the video that corroborate what I've just [Applause] said sir what's going on I I'm not sure uh I just was told to let her know if you guys come by uh so I'm going to give her a quick call she so there was a fight going on or something uh that's I was not for that [Applause] [Applause] are they fighting or something itens but this time like out okay which I'm not sure two weeks ago I was walking by like by their apartment basically and I was hearing someone y like shut the up you stupid after but I wasn't where it came from and could I didn't want to which room is it 1401 1401 okay 1401 well the girl sounded the one that called she she was like getting out it sounds like it's getting really out of hand so it's number four now yeah okay we stand out there and direct the com through it's going go got 3 12111 [Music] 312 111 [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] back [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Sheriff's Office open the door Sheriff's Office open the door St it pains me to show the video but I know that you all need to see it we look forward to fd's findings and the final thirdparty review done by the state attorney's office we know you have many questions as do we yeah so we did need to see it just real quick what is the law here the 11th circuit is where Florida is and the 11th Circuit of course follows Supreme Court precedent on police shootings Tennessee versus Garner that held that an officer may use deadly force when he has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm either to the officer or to others which also requires that he has given some warning about the possible use of deadly force if feasible in the cases following Garner in the 11th circuit the court has found that the mere presence of a gun or other weapon is not enough to Warrant the exercise of deadly force and shield an officer from being sued for a civil rights violation however when a suspect's gun is available for ready use even when the suspect has not drawn that gun an officer is not required to wait and hope for the best the officer had no information indicating that this individual was dangerous he didn't know who who lived at the apartment he didn't know how many people were at the apartment he didn't know whether there was actually an argument at the apartment nobody at that apartment called for help it was just basically death by Karen here some Karen called police have no obligation to even respond to a Karen call it wasn't somebody calling for help it was somebody reporting that they think they heard an argument so they had no information at all much less probable cause to believe that this guy had committed any crime or that he was a threat to anyone the only information we're dealing with here is that the guy answered the door with a gun in his hand which he is allowed to do legally he did not raise it at the police officer if you see it the moment the door is opened the right hand with the pistol in it is pointed at the ground the left hand goes up he made no effort to threaten the officer with a gun it's perfectly legal to be holding a gun when you you answer a door maybe not a good idea when you're dealing with law enforcement but legally you are allowed to do it if the UPS guy knocks on your door and you answer it with a gun in a non-threatening manner you think he would get away with shooting you the instant you you open the door no in my opinion this is very clearly a bad shoot unless there's some other information out there I don't know what it could be now had he raised the gun at the officer that might be different but he did didn't do that and this is the same county where you had the acorn cop who the sound of a falling Acorn made him think that he was being shot at so he starts shooting up his own police car with an unarmed handcuffed subject in the back seat who fortunately was not killed this is the same Department that apparently trains these jumpy cops who pull the trigger first and ask questions later well wait to see what this investigation concludes but it's right there on video [Music]