The man charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a uniformed
suburban Houston sheriff's deputy will be arraigned this week, jail
records show.
Shannon J. Miles, who has a criminal history that includes convictions
for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm, is due in
court Monday. Court and jail records did not list an attorney for the
30-year-old Houston resident.
His arrest Saturday came less than 24 hours after authorities said he
ambushed Darren Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County
Sheriff's Office, at a suburban Houston Chevron station.
Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said the attack was "clearly
unprovoked," and there is no evidence so far that Goforth knew Miles.
Investigators have no information from Miles that would shed light on
his motive, Hickman said.
"Our assumption is that he was a target because he wore a uniform," the sheriff said.
Goforth, 47, was pumping gas at a Chevron station Friday night in
Cypress, a middle-class to upper middle-class suburban area of Harris
County that is unincorporated and located northwest of Houston, when the
gunman approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, continuing
to fire after the deputy had fallen to the ground.
A vigil was held Saturday night at the gas station, where members of the
community were joined by law enforcement officers. GoForth's wife,
Kathleen Goforth, released a statement Saturday to Houston television
station KPRC-TV that said her husband was "ethical; the right thing to
do is what guided his internal compass."
The killing evoked strong emotions in the local law enforcement
community, with Sheriff Ron Hickman linking it to heightened tension
over the treatment of African-Americans by police. Goforth was white and
Miles is black.
The nationwide "Black Lives Matter" movement that formed after
18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer
in Ferguson, Missouri has sought sweeping reforms of policing. Related protests erupted in Texas
recently after a 28-year-old Chicago-area black woman, Sandra Bland,
was found dead in a county jail about 50 miles northwest of Houston
three days after her arrest on a traffic violation. Texas authorities
said she committed suicide but her family is skeptical of that.
Hickman and Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson pushed back against the criticism of police on Saturday.
"We've heard Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too," Hickman said.
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