Gunman ‘out of nowhere’ shoots 3 deputies outside Houston bar, killing one, police say
CNN, KPRC
By Jason Hanna and Alta Spells, CNN
A gunman “came out of nowhere” and fired on constable’s deputies who were trying to detain someone else outside a Houston bar early Saturday, ultimately killing one deputy and injuring two others, a constable said.
Police say they’re looking for the shooter. One person was taken into custody, though investigators didn’t immediately know whether that person was a suspect or a witness, Houston police Executive Assistant Chief James Jones told reporters.
“(The deputies) were just totally ambushed,” Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said.
The shooting happened around 2:15 a.m., after at least two of the Precinct 4 constable deputies — working an extra job at 45 Norte Sports Bar — went outside to address a disturbance, authorities said.
“It turns out it may have been a robbery they were intervening in … probably unknown to them at the time,” Jones said.
While the two deputies were trying to detain a suspect they had on the ground, another person “came from around a car with a rifle and basically shot them right there,” Herman told reporters.
The shooter “came out of nowhere,” Herman said.
The third deputy “hears gunshots … runs out there, and when he does, he doesn’t even draw a gun — he’s shot,” Herman said.
Earlier, Jones, the Houston police official, said all three deputies had been shot from behind.
The deputies were taken to a hospital, and one died, Herman said. Their names were not immediately released.
One of the surviving deputies was shot in the back and was in surgery Saturday morning, and the other was shot in the foot and preparing to go into surgery, Herman said early Saturday.
Investigators believe the shooter was a man in his early 20s, according to Jones. “We hope to have a suspect in custody soon,” Herman said.
Jones asked anyone with information about the shooting to call Houston police.
Wounded deputy learned of friend’s death while on a gurney, constable says
The three deputies were friends who worked the same areas, Herman said.
Herman was visiting one of the wounded deputies in the hospital when that deputy learned his colleague had died, the constable said.
“Someone called him. … He found out, laying bleeding out on a gurney, that his buddy he had just been with was deceased,” Herman said.
The constable said he met with the slain deputy’s father and wife, as well as with relatives of the injured deputies.
“This is probably one of the most difficult things in my 36 years that I’ve had to go through in law enforcement,” Herman said.
“This is a tough time for Precinct 4. I’m asking for all of our community’s thoughts and prayers for our families,” he said.
A manhunt was underway Saturday in connection with the shooting, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Twitter.
“This was an evil act that took this (deputy’s) life. …I hope these perpetrators are apprehended fast,” Paxton tweeted.
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CNN’s Jessica Prater and Alison Main contributed to this report.
