UPDATE:
Via Fox News, a suspect is now in custody:
Authorities have arrested and charged a suspect they say ambushed a Texas county sheriff’s deputy at a suburban Houston gas station in an attack motivated by “absolute madness.”
Officials in Harris County are expected to announced the details of the arrest at 4:30 p.m. local time.
UPDATE II
Mugshot via Click 2 Houston:
KTRK reported:
–A suspect has been arrested and charged in the shooting death of a Harris County deputy.
At a press conference this afternoon, Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman announced that Shannon J. Miles has been arrested and charged with capital murder.
UPDATE III:
The police now say that they had the suspect in custody last night, despite telling reporters he was still on the loose.
The arrest came just more than an hour after Hickman had made a plea to the public to come forward with information and assist in finding the person responsible.
Goforth, 47, was identified as the victim. He was a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and a married father of two.
Hickman said the suspect had been in police custody since last night, despite earlier telling reporters no one was in custody. He also refuted claims that Miles’ mother had turned him in, and said Miles was found through usual police work such as pulling license plates.
When asked why he had requested the public’s help in finding the suspect, Hickman said it was to “make sure we left no stone unturned.”
*****
The hunt is on for “a dark-complexioned man” who gunned down a Houston-area sheriff’s deputy in an unprovoked execution-style killing.
Sheriff Ron Hickman told reporters during a news conference Saturday afternoon that Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Goforth was brutally gunned down while at a northwest Harris County gas station Friday evening.
Hickman said in a press conference Saturday that the investigation into the killing of Goforth is ongoing, and a suspect is not in custody. A man was brought in for questioning about the incident earlier Saturday morning, but he was not arrested or charged.
“We are reaching out to the community for assistance (in) capturing the violent individual for the senseless death of Deputy Goforth,” Hickman said.
During the press conference, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson pushed back against the “Black Lives Matter” rhetoric that seems to be encouraging a war against cops.
“It is time for the silent majority in this country to support law enforcement,” Anderson said. “There are a few bad apples in every profession. That does not mean that there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement. The vast majority of officers are there to do the right thing, are there because they care about their community and want to make it a safer place. What happened last night was an assault on the very fabric of society. It is not anything that we can tolerate.”
Sheriff Hickman concurred, saying that “there is a lot of dangerous national rhetoric out there today.”
Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, had just left an accident scene last night when he stopped by a gas station on Telge and West Road. As he was pumping gas, a man approached him from behind, said nothing and fired multiple shots. Once the deputy fell to the ground, authorities say the suspect fired more shots. Deputy Goforth was pronounced dead on the scene
A witness told reporters she saw a woman sobbing over Deputy Goforth’s body: “She was laying on top him. She was saying that was her best friend and that he had two kids.”
An intense manhunt covered Harris County for hours overnight. At about 2:30am, authorities converged on a home on Crystal Lake in Copperfield, led there by a tip. The focus of the investigation is on the red pickup truck in the home’s driveway. The person of interest was taken into custody at what’s said to be his mother’s house.
The person of interest’s identity was not released, but his mother told Eyewitness News that her son is innocent. She said, “My son is innocent. I was in the house with him, so when that happened, my son was home.”
However, Sgt. William Kennard of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN it was the suspect’s mother who called the Harris County Sheriff’s Department about her son. “All the information she had heard led to him,” Kennard said.
A red pickup truck was parked at the spot where deputies took the person in custody, according to video shot by CNN affiliate KTRK. Authorities had said the suspect drove away from the shooting in a red Ford Ranger.
That suspect has reportedly been released.
Via KHOU:
Mothers and fathers brought their children to lay flowers at the base of the gas pump. Grown men and women wept and prayed.
Several of the people who came to the pay their respects were especially disturbed by the sudden and mysterious circumstances surrounding the deputy’s death.
“I mean, he was doing his job, but he was just standing there,” said Barbara Adams, who lives nearby. “The cold-bloodedness of it really hit me.”
Prayer vigil for #HCSODEPUTYKILLED Darren Goforth scheduled 7pm tonight at murder scene, Telge @ West Road. pic.twitter.com/LTwKpcAcRh
— Doug Miller (@DougMillerKHOU) August 29, 2015
Friday’s slaying brings the officers killed by gunfire tally to 23 so far this year, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. Cop killings are actually at a slightly slower pace in 2015 than in 2014, which saw a total of 50 officers killed by gunfire. In 2013, there were 32 such killings.
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