The man accused of ambushing and killing a Texas sheriff’s deputy for no apparent reason is due to make his first appearance in court Monday.
Shannon J. Miles has been charged with capital murder for the death of Deputy Darren H. Goforth — who was filling up his patrol car Friday night at a Houston gas station when he was shot in the back.
Even after Goforth fell to the ground, authorities said, the gunman stood over him and kept firing.
“This was just a cold-blooded execution,” Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said.
Exactly why Goforth was killed remains a mystery. But speculation abounds.
‘Out-of-control’ rhetoric
Hickman said while a motive has not been confirmed, he said he believes his deputy was killed because “he was wearing a uniform.”
Authorities cited anti-police tensions that have spread nationwide over the deaths of unarmed African-American men at the hands of white officers. Hickman said this has led to a “dangerous national rhetoric.”
“When the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated, cold-blooded assassination of police officers happen, this rhetoric has gotten out of control,” the sheriff said.
“We’ve heard ‘Black lives matter,’ ‘All lives matter.’ Well, cops’ lives matter, too. So why don’t we just drop the qualifier, and just say ‘Lives matter,’ and take that to the bank?”
Wife: I was lucky to have him
The brazen attack left Kathleen Goforth without a husband and their two children, ages 5 and 12, without a father.
“My husband was an incredibly, intricate blend of toughness and gentility,” Kathleen Goforth said.
“He was who you wanted for a friend, a colleague and a neighbor. However, it was I who was blessed so richly that I had the privilege of calling him my husband and my best friend.”
Outpouring of support
It didn’t take long for thousands of strangers to offer their support the Goforth family.
As of Sunday night, donors dropped off more than $50,000 at the gas station where the deputy was killed, organizer Brian McCullar said.
And a gofundme.com page has raised more than $70,000 in one day.
“This was a very senseless murder and no one be it of any race deserved to die like this,” Kimberly Bourda Murphy wrote on the page. Goforth’s life “did matter, just as all lives matter.”