Fort Walton Beach, Florida - The Florida sheriff's deputy who fatally shot a Black US Air Force serviceman earlier this year has been charged with manslaughter, the state attorney general said Friday.

Okaloosa County Deputy Eddie Duran had been dispatched to the apartment complex where airman Roger Fortson lived on May 3 to respond to reports of an "in-progress physical disturbance," according to the sheriff's office.

Police entered the wrong apartment. The 23-year-old Fortson, a licensed gun owner who was alone at the time, answered the door holding a handgun that was pointing at the ground.

Fortson, who was on FaceTime with his girlfriend, a nurse, when the encounter took place, was immediately shot six times by the deputy.

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Duran, who was fired from the sheriff's office after the incident, is facing a sentence of 30 years if convicted, State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden said.

"The former deputy confirmed Mr. Fortson did not physically resist him in any way, and the investigation concluded that Mr. Forston did not point the gun in the former deputy's direction," the sheriff's office previously said.

Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson's family, said the charges marked "the first step toward justice."

"Let this be a reminder to law enforcement officers everywhere that they swore a solemn oath to protect and defend, and their actions have consequences, especially when it results in the loss of life," he added.

Separately Friday, a former police officer in Tennessee pleaded guilty to civil rights and conspiracy charges in the killing of Tyre Nichols, the US Justice Department announced.

Bodycam footage of the January 2023 incident showed officers, who are all Black, repeatedly kicking and punching Tyre Nichols, also Black, during a traffic stop close to his home in Memphis.

Nichols (29) died in hospital three days later.

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Five officers were federally charged in the beating death, with Emmitt Martin becoming the second to plead guilty to using excessive force and failing to intervene in the incident, as well as conspiring in an attempted coverup.

Desmond Mills pleaded guilty to the same charges in November 2023.

The three remaining officers face a federal trial starting September 9.

Vice President Kamala Harris attended Nichols' funeral in February and Nichols' family members were invited to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address in Washington several days later.