Officials investigate the scene at a gas station where a sheriff’s deputy in uniform was fatally shot Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, in Houston. Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan said the deputy was pumping gas into his vehicle on Friday night when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
This image taken from video surveillance provided by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office shows a suspect in the death of Deputy Darren Goforth, who was shot several times while filling up his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station Friday, Aug. 28, 2015. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said that surveillance video shows there were people at the gas station and asked that they reach out with any information that could lead to the man who ambushed Goforth. HOUSTON – Prosecutors on Saturday charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of a sheriff’s deputy who was gunned down from behind while filling up his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station.
Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman identified the man as Shannon J. Miles, who had a previous record including charges of resisting arrest and trespassing. He is charged with killing Darren Goforth, 47, a 10-year veteran of the force.
“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 said. “Our deputies return to the streets tonight to hold a delicate peace that was shattered last evening.”
He 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.
“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.”