First jump a fence, then jump a deputy

[Lord Jim]

You're not the only one; we are certainly all deeply flawed.

I'm not.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Spelling again.... he's usually had a few and is deeply floored

[Lord Jim]

It's a shame this deputy didn't get his gun out in time:

Texas sheriff’s deputy ambushed in ‘execution-style killing’ at gas station

A Texas sheriff’s deputy stopped to fill up his patrol car at a Harris County gas station Friday night when a man approached from behind and “literally shot him to death,” Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said.

Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, died after being shot several times. Local and federal officials have launched a manhunt in the Houston area for the suspect in what Hickman described as “an unprovoked, execution-style killing of a police officer.”

“We will hunt this person down and do our best to bring that person to justice,” Hickman said at a news conference.

On Saturday morning, authorities were speaking with a person as part of the investigation, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman told The Post.

That individual, who may have information about the shooting, is not considered a suspect or a person of interest and the manhunt continues, Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Gilliland told the Associated Press.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office will hold a press conference Saturday afternoon with updates, they announced.

Police released grainy surveillance photos and guessed the suspect to be between 20 and 25 years old. He fled the scene of the shooting in a red or maroon Ford Ranger truck.

Goforth had just finished working an incident and stopped at a Chevron to pump gas into his car. “A male suspect came up behind the deputy and shot the deputy multiple times. The deputy then fell to the ground,” Gilliland told reporters. “The suspect then continued over to him and shot the deputy again multiple times as he laid on the ground.”

A witness called 911 to report the shooting, Gilliland said.

Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the force, is survived by a wife and two children.

“It’s a a very, very tough moment right now for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office,” Gilliland said. “I would ask that you keep us in your prayers and your thoughts.”

The incident “strikes us all at the heart of public service,” Hickman said.

“In my 45 years in law enforcement, I can’t recall another incident so cold-blooded and cowardly,” Hickman said, AP reported.

Goforth had been responding to a routine car accident and no motive in the shooting has been determined yet, AP reported.

The slain deputy’s brother-in-law told ABC News that Goforth “was born” to be in law enforcement.

“He wanted to spend his whole life in it once he got in it,” Stephen Allison told the broadcaster. “He really felt the brotherhood in the community … that’s what he loved to do.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morn ... s-station/

[MajGenl.Meade]

Police released grainy surveillance photos and guessed the suspect to be between 20 and 25 years old. He fled the scene of the shooting in a red or maroon Ford Ranger truck.

Think that story might be omitting a description there?



It is Texas so probably that's a sun tan. Or a bad camera image. At least we know the color of the truck, almost.

[Lord Jim]

Great, a racist surveillance video...

Well, they damn well better not be doing any racial profiling in their traffic stops to find the killer...

For every young black male they pull over, they have to pull over at least one elderly white woman...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Latest report I saw claimed the shooter had been apprehended

[Lord Jim]

(CNN)A man "believed to be the alleged gunman" in the killing of a uniformed Houston-area sheriff's deputy was in custody and being questioned Saturday morning, Sgt. William Kennard of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN.

No charges have been filed against the man, Kennard said. The man's name wasn't given.

It was the man's mother who called the Harris County Sheriff's Department about her son, Kennard said. "All the information she had heard led to him."

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.

'Execution-style' killing

The suspect shot Deputy Darren H. Goforth, 47, while the deputy was filling up his patrol car at a Chevron station just after 8:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. ET), Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said.

"Deputy Goforth was refueling his vehicle and returning to his car from inside the convenience store when, unprovoked, a man walked up behind him and literally shot him to death."

Goforth was shot multiple times from behind and then fell to the ground, where the suspect shot the deputy multiple times again, said Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.

Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff's Office, died at the scene.

The shooting appeared to be "an unprovoked, execution-style killing," Hickman said.

"I have been in law enforcement (for) 45 years," the sheriff said. "I don't recall another incident this cold-blooded and cowardly."

'He did not say anything'

The gunman gave no indication of his motive. He drove away after the shooting in a red Ford Ranger, authorities said.

"He (the suspect) did not say anything," Gilliland said.

Surveillance video from the gas station captured an image of the suspect.

Authorities urged any witnesses in the area to come forward, saying some bystanders called 911 to report the shooting.

About 30 minutes before the shooting, Goforth had investigated an accident, but authorities said it's unclear whether there was a connection to the attack.

A husband and father

Goforth leaves behind a wife and two children.

"Our hearts go out to them," Hickman said, asking the community to remember his family in prayer.

"In times like these, it's important to ask for the prayers from this community," he said. " ... It strikes us in the heart to simply be a target because you wear a badge."

Hickman vowed the suspect will be held accountable.

"We will hunt this person down and do our best to bring this person to justice," he said.

After the news conference, he led a group of law enforcement officials in prayer, their heads bowed solemnly.

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson called the killing "horrifying."

"It's an act of cowardice and brutality the likes of which I've never seen before," she said.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/29/us/texas- ... s-station/

Three cheers for mom...

That can't have been an easy thing for her to....(Especially since she must know that in Texas he will most likely get the appropriate punishment for his crime.)

[dales]

If found guilty and convicted, I wouldn't give you a nickel for his life.

That there is a capital offense, son.

Texas (unlike CA) doesn't keep people on death row for decades.

[Lord Jim]

This is getting confusing:

(CNN)Texas authorities pleaded for the public's help Saturday in finding the person who fatally shot a sheriff's deputy in the back as he pumped gas, saying Saturday the killing was a "cold-blooded execution."

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said no one was in custody but investigators are "talking to people" about the shooting Friday night.

Earlier Saturday, Sgt. William Kennard of the Texas Department of Public Safety said a man "believed to be the alleged gunman" was in custody and being questioned, though he hadn't been charged. The reason for the discrepancy wasn't clear.

"I plead today for the public's assistance in our efforts to bring the suspect to the justice he so rightfully deserves," Hickman said at an afternoon news conference.

The sheriff said surveillance video shows people drove up to the Houston-area Chevron station while the shooting was happening, and he asked them to come forward.

[Gob]

Horror, live for all to see: another week in American gun violence

A gunman killed two journalists on live TV and a 14-year-old boy held 29 classmates and a teacher hostage – and those were just the incidents everyone saw. When 88 people are shot to death each day, campaigners demand to know just what it will take for meaningful gun control reform to pas.

It was every parent’s worst nightmare. A 14-year-old boy, armed with a gun, walked into a classroom at his school and threatened to shoot anyone who called for help.

A three-hour standoff ensued at the Philip Barbour high school in Philippi, West Virginia on Tuesday. For much of it, 29 teenagers and their teacher did not know if they would live or die.

Forty-five minutes passed before administrators at the school even became aware that a hostage situation was unfolding in a second-floor social studies class. Thus began a sequence of action that has become all too familiar for a nation besieged by gun violence and where schools are often a target: a 911 emergency call was placed and the school was quickly evacuated, as police responded and set up a barricade.

Through calm negotiations in the most tense of atmospheres, the young gunman was ultimately persuaded to release the hostages without injury – and prevented from taking his own life – by a combination of authorities, the teacher and his own pastor, who offered his assistance when informed of the boy’s identity.

But the resounding relief among parents, educators and law enforcement was tinged with the knowledge that it could have been far worse. Within seconds, Philip Barbour high school could have added its name to the list of school massacres – Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook – that hold worldwide notoriety and rank among the deadliest mass shootings in US history.

And yet it was not this incident that captured public attention this week.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/a ... n-violence
s

[Lord Jim]

Suspect arrested, charged in killing of Texas county sheriff's deputy

Authorities have charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder, after they say he ambushed a Texas county sheriff’s deputy at a suburban Houston gas station in an attack motivated by "absolute madness."

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman identified the man in a news conference Saturday afternoon as Shannon J. Miles, who is in police custody.

Miles — who has a criminal history that includes convictions for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm — was arrested less than 24 hours after authorities said he ambushed Darren Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff's Office, at a suburban Houston Chevron station.

"I am proud of the men and women that have worked swiftly to apprehend the responsible person who posed a significant threat to both law enforcement and the community at large," Hickman told reporters Saturday. "Our deputies return to the streets tonight to hold a delicate peace that was shattered last evening."

Hickman said the motive for the killing had not been determined but investigators would look at whether Miles, who is black, was motivated by anger over recent killings elsewhere of black men by police that have spawned the "Black Lives Matter" protest movement. Goforth was white.

"I think that's something that we have to keep an eye on," Hickman said. "The general climate of that kind of rhetoric can be influential on people to do things like this. We're still searching to find out if that's actually a motive."


Hickman said investigators are working on the assumption "that he was a target because he wore a uniform."

In a statement Saturday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said "heinous and deliberate crimes against law enforcement will not be tolerated" and that the state "reveres the men and women in law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day to protect and serve their communities."

In an earlier news conference on Saturday, Hickman and District Attorney Devon Anderson both had strong words for what they said was an unprovoked attack targeting law enforcement, while touching on the recent climate of tension between civilians and law enforcement.

"We've heard black lives matter, all lives matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too," Hickman said.

Anderson said that there are bad individuals in every field, but that "there should not be open warfare on law enforcement officers."

Goforth, 47, was near a gas pump when the gunman approached him from behind and opened fire, Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan told The Associated Press.

Hickman said Goforth was a “dedicated law enforcement officer” who had been a on the force for 10 years. He had a wife and two children, 12 and 5.

"In my 45 years in law enforcement, I can't recall another incident so cold-blooded and cowardly," Hickman said.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said Goforth had traveled to the Chevron station where the shooting happened, after responding to a routine car accident.

“He was pumping into his vehicle, and the male suspect came up behind him and shot the deputy multiple times,” Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle. “The deputy fell to the ground, the suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.”

Fox affiliate KRIV reported Goforth was shot once in the head and three times in the back.

The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Houston Police Department were also involved in the search for the Miles.

"This is a very tough moment right now for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office," Gilliland said. "Keep us in your prayers and in your thoughts."

"Bob Goerlitz, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization, said the incident was "shocking."

“We've been warned of things like this, because of public sentiment nationally and events over the last few years ... It's just horrific. That's the only way to describe it."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sh ... -in-texas/

Gee I wonder if Obama will attend the funeral...or send the Attorney General down to investigate...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Gee I wonder if Obama will attend the funeral...or send the Attorney General down to investigate...

Or acknowledge it even happened. if he did I missed it