Harris County authorities have a man in custody in the shooting death Friday of a sheriff's deputy, Sheriff Ron Hickman said at a press conference Saturday. The suspect,
Shannon J. Miles, has a previous criminal history including resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm. He is being charged with capital murder.
Hickman says he the shooting was "unprovoked" and the department is still looking for a motive for the "cold-blooded assassination" of the officer at a Houston-area gas station.
Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was fatally shot in the back late Friday while filling his patrol car in northwest Harris County. Hickman said ballistics tests showed a match between the weapon used to kill Goforth and a weapon in Goforth's possession.
Hickman, in discussing the shooting with reporters at an earlier press conference, condemned the "very dangerous national rhetoric" about police officers that he said was out of control.
The suspect, whose image was caught on surveillance video, approached Goforth from behind and shot him several times in the back. He continued to fire even after the officer had fallen to the ground.
Hickman said the killing was unprovoked and that Goforth was apparently singled out only because he was wearing the uniform of a law enforcement officer. The sheriff made it clear he felt the shooting was tied to a national backlash over several recent killings of unarmed black people by police officers.
"When rhetoric ramps up to the point where cold-blooded assassination has happened, this rhetoric has gotten out of control," he said.