*A suspect has been apprehended in shooting death of a Harris County, Texas sheriff’s deputy and already it’s casting a bad light on the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
The suspect is a man named Shannon J. Miles. He has a previous criminal history including resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm, reports USA Today. He is being charged with capital murder.
The shooting is being described as “unprovoked” and Sheriff Hickman says 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 Miles’ possession.
At a press conference earlier today, Hickman condemned what he termed the “very dangerous national rhetoric” about police officers that he said was out of control.
Officials said Miles is the individual captured on surveillance video. He was apprehended, Hickman said, by locating the red Ford pick-up scene on the surveillance video, which was parked near where Miles resided.
On the video, a man matching Miles’ description is shown approaching Goforth from behind and shooting him several times in the back. The shooter continued to fire even after the officer had fallen to the ground.
Hickman said 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. “We heard ‘black lives matter.’ All lives matter. Well, cops’ lives matter too, so why don’t we drop the qualifier and say ‘lives matter’ and take that to the bank.”
Get MORE of this story at USA Today.
Watch video from press conference:
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