More than three months after a U.S. Air Force airman from metro Atlanta was gunned down by a Florida sheriff’s deputy, his family and their lawyer are demanding that prosecutors decide whether to bring charges against the former lawman.

At a Friday news conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump questioned why the investigation has taken so long, noting that the shooting of Senior Airman Roger Fortson was captured on the deputy’s body camera video.

He said that “for Black people in America, when they delay, delay, delay, that tells us they’re trying to sweep it under the rug.”

“It’s on video y’all,” Crump added. “It ain’t no mystery what happened.”

Fortson, 23, was killed on May 3 by Okaloosa County sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The airman answered the door to his apartment while holding a handgun pointed toward the floor and was killed within seconds, body camera video showed.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran, saying his life was never in danger and that he should not have fired his weapon.

A sheriff’s office internal affairs investigation found that Fortson “did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore, the former deputy’s use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable.”

On Friday, Crump said his team has been told that authorities will make a decision on charges on Aug. 23.

“Mark your calendars, brothers and sisters, mark your calendars,” Crump told supporters gathered for the news conference in a church sanctuary in Fort Walton Beach.

The Aug. 23 date came from a top official in the state attorney’s office, Crump said. Neither State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden, who oversees the area, or her staff responded to requests for comment on Friday.

Fortson was stationed at the Air Force’s Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle. At his funeral outside Atlanta in May, hundreds of Air Force members in dress blues filed past his coffin, draped with an American flag.

Now, Crump and the family want the former deputy to face charges.

“To the state’s attorney, you got everything you need,” Crump said. “The only question is, are you going to do it?”

A key swing county in suburban Atlanta approved nearly $50,000 this week to purchase “panic buttons” for election workers, a move that comes as those who administer elections have faced increased threats and harassments.

Commissioners in Cobb county approved the purchase of about 200 of the devices, which are about the size of a credit card, according to NBC News, which first reported on the purchase.

The devices alert authorities to someone’s location by pairing with a user’s smartphone. The commission also approved more than $14,000 to hire a security guard for the election office as part of a $2.43m budget for election contingencies.

“With the severe increase in concern for election worker safety, we’re requesting funds for a security guard for our office, as well as panic buttons for Poll Managers,” Tate Fall, the Cobb county election director wrote in a memo accompanying the request.

Ever since Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election, local election officials have faced an increase in scrutiny. Election skeptics have bombarded their offices with public records requests and verbally attacked them at public meetings.

Turnover in election offices has been increasing for years, and has reached its highest point in decades, according to a survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center from earlier this year. More than half of election officials surveyed by the Brennan Center for Justice this year said they were concerned about the safety of colleagues and staff.

Earlier this year, Georgia became the first state to require police officers in the state to learn election law as part of their state certification.

An election services company and a security company that have partnered to sell the devices have seen wide interest in them, according to NBC News. They are in discussions to sell at least 1,500 in five states, NBC reported.

“We thought maybe 10 or 20 counties would show interest, and it’s been every county or state that we’ve talked to has shown interest in this,” Jeff Ellington, the chief executive of Runbeck Election Services, which is selling the buttons, told NBC.

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Braves have released their 2025 spring training schedule, which will once against take place in North Port, Florida. This will mark the sixth year the team ventured to CoolToday Park. 

The Braves will host 15 home games as part of its 32-game exhibition schedule. Those games will kick of on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, on the road against the Minnesota Twins. The following day, Atlanta will play its first home game of the spring against the Tampa Bay Rays. 

Throughout the spring, the Braves will welcome 11 different major league teams to CoolToday Park. The schedule features two games each against the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Tampa Bay Rays. Additionally, the Braves will play single home games against the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, and Washington Nationals. 

A highlight of the 2025 spring season will be the Braves’ participation in Major League Baseball’s second annual “Spring Breakout.” On Sunday, March 16, Atlanta’s top prospects will face off against the Detroit Tigers’ top prospects at CoolToday Park. The event is designed to showcase the league’s emerging talent, with in-park fan engagement activities centered around the young stars. 

The Braves will wrap up the Florida portion of their spring training on Sunday, March 23, with a game against the Baltimore Orioles. They will then head to Arizona for their final two exhibition games, facing the Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park in Mesa on March 24 and 25. Atlanta is set to begin the 2025 regular season on Thursday, March 27, at Petco Park, where they will take on the San Diego Padres. 

Season tickets and group sales for the 2024 spring season are now available, with individual game tickets to be released at a later date. A-List and Beach Club Members will have the first opportunity to purchase individual game tickets. For more information or to book tickets, fans can contact the Braves’ group sales representatives at 941-413-5004 or via email at SpringTraining@Braves.com.