“A witness called 911 to let us know one of our deputies had been shot, multiple units arrived, EMS arrived on scene”.
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Harris County Sheriff Hickman, however, is already suggesting that widespread activism against police misconduct may have played a role, noting he was especially concerned about such a calculated killing in light of the recent tensions between police and civilians, insisting, “We’ve heard black lives matter, all lives matter”. On his resume, where his name is listed as Shannon Jaruay Miles, his education includes “hotel and lodging management” from the University of Houston.
At a press conference earlier today, Hickman condemned what he termed the “very risky national rhetoric” about police officers that he said was out of control. “Cops’ lives matter, too”, Hickman said then.
Hickman remarks referred to the group Black Lives Matter, whose protests against police violence and the mass incarceration of black men have disrupted political and other events.
Law enforcement officials in Texas have asked for the public’s help in tracking down the person who fatally shot a sheriff’s deputy at a gas station near Houston in what is being described as “a cold-blooded execution”.
Miles, 30, was arrested for the murder of Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren H. Goforth, 47, who was pumping gas about 8:30 p.m. Friday when he was shot from behind.
After Goforth crumpled to the ground, the suspect towered over him and fired several more shots.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said officials are speaking with a person of interest in connection with the shooting and have obtained a search warrant for the two-story brick home where the person lives. He was reportedly driving a red or maroon Ford Ranger with an extended cab. However, Hickman has not commented on the motive for the shooting.
“At this moment our assumption is he was a target because of the uniform”, Hickman said.
“The working motive for this at this point is absolute madness”, Hickman said Saturday afternoon.
He said he’d met Goforth a few years after he joined the department and was one of Goforth’s instructors during his patrol training.
A sheriff’s deputy in the Houston, Texas area was murdered execution style overnight in what a local district attorney is calling “an act of cowardice and brutality the likes of which I’ve never seen“.
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Anderson said that there are bad individuals in every field, but that “there should not be open warfare on law enforcement officers”. “The vast majority of law enforcement are there to do the right thing”. They care about their community. An intense manhunt covered Harris County for hours late last night into this morning.
