Suspect arrested in shooting of Houston deputy

UPDATE:

HOUSTON — Officials say a suspect has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a deputy at a suburban Houston gas station.

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman was scheduled to hold a news conference at 4:30 p.m. CDT to discuss the arrest.

Officials with the sheriff's office declined to comment on details of the arrest or what charge the suspect might face until the news conference.

EARLIER:

Authorities are still pursuing a 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, they said Saturday afternoon during a strongly worded news conference.

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 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.

Hickman and District Attorney Devon Anderson both said the ambush was unsettling, especially given 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."

Earlier Saturday, Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said officials were questioning a person of interest and had a search warrant for a two-story brick home. Hickman said authorities were looking at a pickup truck at the house, which is about a quarter-mile from the gas station, due to the description of the suspect driving a red or maroon truck with an extended cab.

Police have described the suspect as a male with a dark complexion, about 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall, wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts. Authorities did not say what race they believe him to be.

Goforth was a 10-year veteran of the force, had a wife and two children, Hickman said. As for a motive, Hickman said that until anything is known with "certainty ... it's all speculation."

An impromptu memorial sprouted at the Chevron gas station pump that Goforth used 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 in Copperfield, a middle-class to upper middle-class area of Harris County that is unincorporated, was open, but that pump was closed.