Sheriff blames 'anti-police rhetoric' for killing of white police officer

A Sheriff in Texas has blamed "dangerous rhetoric" against police by anti-racism activists for the execution-style killing of one of his officers.

Darren Goforth, 47, a white sheriff's deputy, was shot in the back of the head as he filled up his patrol car at a petrol station in a middle class suburb of Houston on Friday night.

Shannon Miles, 30, who is black, has been charged with murder.

According to his Facebook page Miles at one point attended the same university in Texas as Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old black women who was found hanged in a jail cell last month.

Protests followed her death as a video showed she had been arrested under controversial circumstances during a routine traffic stop.

Police said Miles had no known connection to Deputy Goforth, and allegedly targeted him simply because he was wearing a uniform.

Ron Hickman, Harris County Sheriff, said they would investigate whether Harris was motivated by anger over recent police killings of black men elsewhere in the United States.

Several days before the killing a caller to an internet radio show based in Texas had called for the "lynching" of white people, and the killing of police officers, to "turn the tide".

Sheriff Hickman said anti-police rhetoric had "gotten out of control".

He said: "I think that's something that we have to keep an eye on. The general climate of that kind of rhetoric can be influential on people to do things like this.

"We've heard black lives matter. All lives matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too. So why don't we just drop the qualifier and say lives matter.

"As far as we know Deputy Goforth had no previous contact with the suspect, and it appears at the outset to be clearly unprovoked."

Devon Anderson, Harris County district attorney added: "There are a few bad apples in every profession. That does not mean there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement."

Deray McKesson, a leader of Black Lives Matter, the peaceful protest movement spawned by recent police killings of black people elsewhere in the United States, criticised the sheriff for heightening tensions with his comments.

She said: "It is unfortunate that Sheriff Hickman has chosen to politicise this tragedy and to attribute the officer's death to a movement that seeks to end violence."

Ted Cruz, the Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate, said: "The vast majority of police officers are here to do the right thing. They care about their community. What happened is an assault on the fabric of society."