OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. — A judge denied bond on Tuesday for a fired deputy in the shooting of a Black U.S. Air Force senior airman from Atlanta who answered his apartment door while holding a gun pointed at the floor.
Former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran, 38, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 shooting death of 23-year-old Roger Fortson. The rare charge against a Florida law enforcement officer is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The judge ordered him held until a Thursday pre-trial detention hearing, despite objections from his lawyer, who said he should be released now.
Attorney Rod Smith said Duran doesn’t need to be held in jail for the next few days.
“They know he’s going to show up,” Smith said. “We believe that he’s no risk, no flight risk. He’s going to show up Thursday, he’s going to show up any time, he need not spend the time in the jail the next few days.”