Airman was in a Special Ops squadron, if I read the article right.
Fun fact, for every one person who graduates special ops training in the air force, something like 20 others fail and go on to do other jobs in the air force.
Even if he never saw action, he went through hell and back just in training. Just so he could be murdered in his own home by a florida cop.
I believe he was on a video call with a woman, and her account is that someone knocked, didn’t respond when he asked who was there, and they hid themselves from the peep hole.
Then the police started pounding, still without announcing themselves, so he went and armed himself BECAUSE HE’S ABOUT HAVE HIS HOME INVADED.
Next thing, cops kick in door, see him, kill him, and blame him for making them murder him.
That version of events was in a different article covering this from a different Lemmy thread, not sure which one. Here’s another one that appears to align with those additional details:
The article below says the video shows them announcing themselves, and then he opened the door with a gun in his hand. Not trying to excuse anyone but I think that could convince a judge that the officer feared for their safety.
Also idk about you, but my first instinct when someone is banging on the door, my last line of defense, is definitely not to open it up and say hi. OR let anyone know that I’m inside either way.
Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a special missions aviator, where one of his roles as a member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider aircrew was to load the gunship’s 30mm and 105mm cannons during missions.
He was aircrew, not one of the operators that go through the Selection Pipeline.
I’m a prior Special Operations Airman myself. Worked on a different version of the C-130 as a radio operator. It’s still almost a year of additional training after BMT and usually involves a stint at a general aviation school, then technical training for your specific role on the aircraft, then specific training on your assigned airframe, then a SERE school (survival, evasion, resistance, escape…basically how to not get caught after you’re shot down and how to handle being a POW if you are caught), then a bunch more training at your first unit. Still a pretty intense first year of service. What a fucking waste.
Airman was in a Special Ops squadron, if I read the article right.
Fun fact, for every one person who graduates special ops training in the air force, something like 20 others fail and go on to do other jobs in the air force.
Even if he never saw action, he went through hell and back just in training. Just so he could be murdered in his own home by a florida cop.
I believe he was on a video call with a woman, and her account is that someone knocked, didn’t respond when he asked who was there, and they hid themselves from the peep hole.
Then the police started pounding, still without announcing themselves, so he went and armed himself BECAUSE HE’S ABOUT HAVE HIS HOME INVADED.
Next thing, cops kick in door, see him, kill him, and blame him for making them murder him.
Oh, and cops were at the wrong apartment #.
Citation?
That version of events was in a different article covering this from a different Lemmy thread, not sure which one. Here’s another one that appears to align with those additional details:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/09/florida-airman-killed-by-police-roger-fortson
The article below says the video shows them announcing themselves, and then he opened the door with a gun in his hand. Not trying to excuse anyone but I think that could convince a judge that the officer feared for their safety.
Also idk about you, but my first instinct when someone is banging on the door, my last line of defense, is definitely not to open it up and say hi. OR let anyone know that I’m inside either way.
He was aircrew, not one of the operators that go through the Selection Pipeline.
ok, thanks for that. But still though.
Yeah it’s fucked up
I’m a prior Special Operations Airman myself. Worked on a different version of the C-130 as a radio operator. It’s still almost a year of additional training after BMT and usually involves a stint at a general aviation school, then technical training for your specific role on the aircraft, then specific training on your assigned airframe, then a SERE school (survival, evasion, resistance, escape…basically how to not get caught after you’re shot down and how to handle being a POW if you are caught), then a bunch more training at your first unit. Still a pretty intense first year of service. What a fucking waste.
They aren’t putting Gomer Pyle on that plane. Not everyone whose special ops is Delta or Pararescue.