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A League City, Texas, Man Wielding a Samurai-Style Sword is Allegedly Shot and Killed by an Officer with the League City Police Deparment.

League City Texas City Hall
League City, Texas, City Hall (Photo: Labeled for reuse)

On Tuesday, May 1, 2018, in League City, Texas, 49-year-old Roger Fortner was allegedly shot and killed in his residence on Morningside Drive by a police officer with the League City Police Department (LCPD). Another officer fired a blunt impact projectile at Fortner at virtually the same moment. Officers with the department’s Combined Agency Response Team had entered the home at about 5 a.m. Fortner used a samurai-style sword to threaten the officers and was instructed to put down the weapon. Officers say Fortner failed to put the sword down, and that is when one officer fired a rifle and the other fired the impact projectile. Fortner was pronounced dead at the scene.

Seversl people were allegedly present in the home during the alleged police-involved shooting. Neither the officers nor anyone else in the home were injured at the time of the alleged shooting of Fortner. One of the residents was arrested on a drug charge.

Both of the officers who engaged weapons at the scene have been placed on administrative leave.

There was no mention of whether the police officers were wearing body cameras and, if so, whether they were on at the time of the alleged police shooting. The benefit of such information is that it helps investigators determine whether officers were following proper departmental procedures when a weapon was used on an individual.

Although rare in comparison to the number of police shootings that occur, there have been times when police officers were charged with a crime, after an investigation suggests that excessive force was used and actions were not in keeping with acceptable behavior. For instance, on May 5, 2017, a former police officer with the Balch Springs Police Department in Balch Springs, Texas, was arrested and charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards for actions he took while on duty.

As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.

–Guest Contributor

Written By: author image smchugh
author image smchugh