Former sheriff's deputy Eddie Duran found not guilty of manslaughter in fatal shooting of Airman Roger Fortson

Eddie Duran, a former Florida county sheriff's deputy, was found not guilty by a jury on Thursday after facing one count of manslaughter with a firearm in the 2024 shooting death of a U.S. Air Force airman Roger Fortson.

The jury acquitted Duran after more than two hours of deliberations on Thursday afternoon. Duran, 38, was facing a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Fortson, 23, was in his home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on May 3, 2024, when Duran, who was an Okaloosa County sheriff's deputy, responded to the apartment for a call reporting a domestic disturbance, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office. Fortson was alone in the apartment at the time, police said, and he was on the phone with his girlfriend.

Fortson was shot and killed by Duran after answering the door of his apartment while holding a legally owned handgun after Duran was dispatched for a domestic disturbance. The shooting sparked national attention, and the deputy was later fired and charged with manslaughter.

Duran, who pleaded not guilty, testified during his trial on Wednesday, arguing that he fatally shot Fortson in self-defense.

"Looking at his eyes, it was clear to me that I wasn't welcomed. I wasn't a welcome presence. He seemed aggressive, frustrated, and again, just I'm not welcome," Duran said.

"I thought I was dead. As soon as the door opened and I saw it, I immediately thought, 'I'm dead,'" he added.

Mark Alderman, the assistant state attorney who prosecuted the case, argued during closing arguments on Thursday that Fortson posed "no threat" to Duran and said that he held his handgun because he was "not sure who's at his door."

Alderman pointed to the body camera video shown to jurors during the trial, showing that Fortson's gun was "pointed at the ground" when he was shot by Duran.

"There was no threat. The gun was pointed at the ground," he said.

Alderman also said that upon opening his door, Fortson held his left arm up when he saw Duran and made "no aggressive move, no aggressive act" before he was shot.

"There's a reason most of those gunshots enter his left arm, because he was holding it up in an effort to not be shot, and was shot repeatedly in that left arm as he holds it up in an effort to shield himself right before the shooting," he said. "Roger's last act was to, in essence, plead to not be shot. The defendant completely ignored it. I hope that you don't ignore it."

Meanwhile, Duran's defense attorney Rod Smith argued on Thursday that Fortson posed an "imminent threat" to Duran and the former sheriff's deputy's actions were "a justifiable use of force by a law enforcement officer while he was performing the duties that he is obliged to perform."

In closing arguments, Smith focused on the gun that Fortson was holding when he opened the door of his home for Duran, arguing that the former sheriff's deputy was following his training on how to respond to a "close encounter" when he shot Fortson.

"Do you have to wait? Do we ever train people that they have to wait until the gun is pointed at them? No. No one is trained that you wait till the gun is pointed at you. No one would take the job if that was the training," Smith said.

"The question here is about the reasonableness of his actual fear," he said. "What is the officer to do at that point? Wait till it's aimed at him? No, that's not how you're trained. It's imminent threat, and you respond. And he did exactly that," he added.

State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden, whose office prosecuted the case against Duran, said in a statement after the verdict on Thursday that prosecutors "respect" the verdict and "thank the jurors for their service."

"A not-guilty verdict means the State did not prove the criminal charge beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of every juror," Madden's office said in a statement. "It does not diminish the life, service, or humanity of Roger Fortson, and it does not lessen the devastating loss his family, friends, and fellow airmen endured."

ABC News reached out to Duran's attorneys and Fortson's family for comment.

ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.