A lone suspect in the “cold-blooded assassination” of a Texas sheriff’s deputy has been identified as Shannon J. Miles, 30, who will be charged with capital murder for allegedly gunning down the officer as he pumped gas, authorities said Saturday.
Sheriff Ron Hickman released few details about the suspect Saturday in a press conference. Miles has a list of prior convictions including resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct with a fire arm, he said.
Officers arrested Miles about 2:30 a.m. Saturday and he remains in custody. The District Attorney’s office is expected to arraign Miles in the next few days, Hickman said.
Calling the shooting a “senseless and cowardly act,” Hickman said there is no other apparent motive other than the Deptuy Darren Goforth, 47, “was wearing a uniform.” Investigators tracked Miles down based on his car and license number. The murder weapon, “a very big gun,” Hickman said, has been recovered.
The 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office was fatally shot several times from behind at point-blank range while pumping gas into his police cruiser at a Chevron gas station shortly before 8:30 p.m. Friday, police said. Goforth had a wife and two children, ages 12 and 5.
“In my 45 years in law enforcement, I can’t recall another incident so cold-blooded and cowardly,” Hickman said earlier Saturday. In an earlier press conference, surrounded by sullen colleagues, Hickman said the shooting was unprovoked.
Police released surveillance video showing the suspected killer holding what appears to be a handgun.
Goforth, a married father of two, was ambushed by the killer and never had a chance to fight back, police said.
“The deputy fell to ground,” Dep. Thomas Gilliland said in a morning press conference. “The suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.”
A witness, identified only as McKenzie, told KTRK she heard the gunshots around 8:20 p.m. and called 911. She found a woman crying over the deputy’s body.
“She was laying on top him,” McKenzie said. “She was saying that was her best friend and that he had two kids.”
Hours after Goforth’s murder, a memorial of flowers, notes and candles appeared at the gas pump where he died.
The killer’s motive is unknown, but local officials connected it to rising tensions between African-American communities and law enforcement following a stream of police brutality incidents and protests.
These conflicts should not lead to “open warfare declared on law local enforcement,” District Attorney Devon Anderson said in an afternoon press conference with officers.
“What happened last night is an assault on the very fabric of society,” she said.
Speaking after Anderson, Hickman cited “dangerous national rhetoric” against officers and said the attack “strikes at the heart of law enforcement.”
The murder brings back chilling memories of another execution-style murder of unsuspecting officers.
An armed madman who claimed he was seeking revenge for Eric Garner’s death took a bus from Baltimore to New York City just before Christmas and targeted an NYPD cruiser on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Detectives Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, were slain in their car on Dec. 20, 2014.
The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, killed himself on a G train platform.
With News Wire Services
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With Rachelle Blidner
