Texas sheriff says slain deputy was ‘target’

HOUSTON – 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 today. 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.

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.

Miles’ criminal record begins in 2005, when he was convicted of criminal mischief, giving false information to police and resisting arrest, according to records. In 2006, he was convicted of disorderly conduct with a firearm and sentenced to a maximum of 15 days in jail. He was convicted of evading arrest in 2007, and his most recent conviction came in 2009 for again resisting arrest. Records show that he was sentenced to several short stints in jail, anywhere from 10 to six days.

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.

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.

“We’ve heard Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. Well, cops’ lives matter, too,” Hickman said.

Deray McKesson, a leader in the Black Lives Matter movement, told the Houston Chronicle: “It is unfortunate that Sheriff Hickman has chosen to politicize this tragedy and to attribute the officer’s death to a movement that seeks to end violence.”