Texas Sheriff, DA Slam “War on Police” and Anti-Cop Rhetoric
Shannon Miles, 30, right, is in custody for the “execution” of Darren Goforth, 47, left, a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy. (PHOTO: AP)
Shannon J. Miles, 30, was arrested and charged Saturday with capital murder in the killing of Darren Goforth, 47, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The suburban Houston sheriff’s deputy was filling his patrol car with gas at a station in Cypress when Miles allegedly and cowardly shot him “because he wore a uniform,” authorities said.
“Our assumption is that he [the deputy] was a target because he wore a uniform,” Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said. “At this moment, we found no other motive or indication that it was anything other than that.”
Hickman said the “execution” was “clearly unprovoked,” and that there was no evidence that Goforth knew Miles. The killing has been met with a strong emotional response from the local law enforcement community, with Hickman and Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson slamming the anti-police rhetoric fueling the Black Lives Matter movement. Activists with the St. Paul, Minn. branch of Black Lives Matter were recently caught on video chanting “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em up” just hours after the deputy was ambushed and killed.
“We’ve heard Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. Well, cops’ lives matter, too,” DA Hickman said on Saturday, adding that the anti-police rhetoric and “war on police” have got to stop. Hickman also said they at least take some solace in knowing he has been caught.
“It gives us some peace knowing that this individual is no longer at large and that he wasn’t somebody that would be targeting the rest of the community.”
Shannon Miles, 30, right, is caught on video before the “execution” of Darren Goforth, 47, left, a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy. (PHOTO: AP/HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Miles is likely to be arraigned in court on Monday for what Hickman characterized at a press conference as a “cold-blooded execution.”
Goforth, who is survived by his wife, a school teacher, and two children ages 12 and 15, became a police officer in his 30s, brother-in-law Stephen Allison told ABC News today.
“He wanted to spend his whole life in it once he got in it,” Allison, 46, said. “He really felt the brotherhood in the community. That’s what he loved to do. He was the rock in that family,” Allison said through tears.
