Mother of gunned down Airman says she keeps ‘hoping it’s a dream’

ATLANTA — The mother of a Georgia Airman wants the deputy who killed him to face criminal charges.

A Florida sheriff fired the deputy, but Roger Fortson’s family said that’s not enough.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke one-on-one Monday with the airman’s mother, Meka Fortson

She told Fernandes that Roger went straight into the Air Force following high school and his mom remembers worrying about her son being deployed to Kuwait.

She never thought an American sheriff’s deputy would end her son’s life.

“I still keep hoping it’s a dream,” Meka Fortson said.

For the last month, she said she has isolated herself from the world holding on tight to her son’s memory.

It’s not just her family mourning Senior Airman Roger Fortson. She said several people in metro Atlanta are missing him and she learned at her son’s funeral, that many in the Air Force are grieving the patriot.

“There were thousands of people saying we’ll never get another Roger,” Meka Fortson said.

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She said when Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden fired deputy Eddie Duran on Friday, a month after he shot and killed her son in the doorway of his Florida apartment that was a step in the right direction.

“They need to take the credentials, take the pension,” Meka Fortson said.

Fernandes reached out to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to ask about criminal charges they said the investigation is ongoing.

The internal investigation that led up to the termination of now former deputy Duran is separate.

“That’s not justice for me. It’s so many lies in that report,” Meka Fortson said.

The report says there was noise coming from the airman’s apartment and when the deputy checked with the front office, a worker said “There had been recent unreported disturbances at or around the same apartment.”

The airman’s mother said that’s not true, her son was quiet, kept to himself, and was told by staff he was a model tenant.

She said Sheriff Aden needs to hold another news conference.

“So go back on the podium and disgrace your deputy like you did my child,” Meka Fortson said.

Fortson said she’s been quiet for a month waiting for authorities to do the right thing.

In her opinion, they haven’t, even though the entire shooting was caught on police body camera.

RELATED NEWS:

Family of Atlanta airman shot, killed want criminal charges against deputy who was fired

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