• Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden on Thursday released bodycam footage of a sheriff’s deputy shooting 23-year-old Roger Fortson, a Black US airman who later died of his injuries. CNN (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• Previously, police had said that the deputy, who remains unidentified, was responding to a disturbance call in progress and “reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun.” CBS (a) (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• The airman’s mother, Chantemekki Fortson, accompanied by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Thursday held a press conference to dispute the narrative put forward by police. They asserted that the deputy went to the wrong apartment, covered the door’s peephole, and didn’t announce himself. Guardian (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• Aden said the bodycam footage of the May 3 incident was released to dispute those assertions. The video shows the deputy twice shouting, “Sheriff’s office! Open the door!” However, the deputy steps aside after banging on the door, seemingly out of view of the peephole. Guardian (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• After Fortson opens the door while carrying a handgun that was pointed downwards, the deputy shouts, “Step back!” before firing off several shots. He then shouts “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!” while Fortson insists it’s no longer in his possession. Associated Press (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• Crump, in response to the video, in a statement said that the officer did not tell Fortson to drop his gun before shooting and that he shot “multiple times within a split second of the door being opened.” The family remains “adamant” that the deputy was at the wrong apartment. Associated Press (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• The deputy was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an official investigation. CBS (b) (LR: 2 CP: 5)

Narrative A:

• This heavily redacted video doesn’t answer all the questions that need to be addressed in order for the family to get the full story. Although the sheriff claims the deputy was at the correct apartment, he was acting on fourth-hand information that could’ve misled him. There’s also no explanation for why the deputy didn’t issue multiple verbal demands and instead fired several shots.
  MILITARY.COM

Narrative B:

• The deputy was at the correct door and announced himself, which doesn’t justify the shooting but also contradicts some of the claims being made by interested outsiders. The sheriff’s department will cooperate with any and all independent investigations to make sure the truth about this unfortunate incident is uncovered and these tragedies can be prevented in the future.
  FOX NEWS (LR: 4 CP: 4)

Nerd narrative:

• There’s a 50% chance that there will be at least 1.41 small firearms per capita in the USA by Jan. 1, 2029, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
  METACULUS (LR: 3 CP: 3)