WATCH ABOVE: The suspect in the shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy in Houston, Texas on Aug. 28 made a court appearance on Monday. Omar Villafranca reports.
HOUSTON – Authorities were searching Saturday for the suspect in the death of a uniformed sheriff’s deputy who was shot several times while filling up his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station, authorities said.
Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was pumping gas about 8:30 p.m. Friday when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan told The Associated Press.
Police were speaking with a person who has information about the shooting and obtained a search warrant for the two-story brick home where the person lives, Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said. No arrests have been made, Gilliland said, and the man is not a suspect or person of interest.
Nine patrol cars were parked near the home, which is about a quarter-mile (400 metres) from the gas station in Copperfield, a middle-class to upper middle-class area of Harris County that is unincorporated.
The search for the suspect, whom police have described as between 20 and 25 years old , is ongoing. He was driving a red or maroon pickup-style truck.
Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the force, had a wife and two children, according to Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman.
“In my 45 years in law enforcement, I can’t recall another incident so cold-blooded and cowardly,” Hickman said, who added no motive had been determined.
An impromptu memorial had begun Saturday morning at the Chevron station pump that Goforth was using on Friday night, with a pile of balloons, flowers, candles and notes, including one that said, “Gone but never forgotten R.I.P. Deputy Goforth.” The gas station was open, but that pump was closed.
No motive was determined for the shooting, he said.
Goforth had travelled to the Chevron station after responding to a routine car accident, Gilliland said.
WATCH: Aftermath footage of fatal shooting of Houston sheriff’s deputy.
“He was pumping gas 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 ground. The suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.”
He said Goforth died at the scene.
Detectives were checking security camera video for possible clues.
Harris County Sheriff’s deputies and homicide investigators joined officers from other agencies, including the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Houston Police Department, in the search.
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