Cypress man to be arraigned Monday in deputy's murder

Harris County District 5 deputies hug and look at a growing memorial during a vigil Saturday held at the Chevron station where deputy Darren Goforth was shot and killed.﻿ Harris County District 5 deputies hug and look at a growing memorial during a vigil Saturday held at the Chevron station where deputy Darren Goforth was shot and killed.﻿ Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Image 1 of / 98 Caption Close Cypress man to be arraigned Monday in deputy's murder 1 / 98 Back to Gallery

A 30-year-old Cypress man charged with capital murder for allegedly ambushing and then, for no apparent reason, shooting to death a Harris County Sheriff's deputy who had just refueled his police cruiser at a gas station will appear in court for the first time Monday morning.

Shannon J. Miles was arrested and charged in the death of Deputy Darren Goforth after authorities spent much of the day questioning him. Miles walked up behind Goforth at the gas station at Telge and West at about 8:20 p.m. Friday and shot him repeatedly in the back without any apparent provocation or motive, said Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman, who called the crime "cold blooded" and "cowardly" at a press conference Saturday.

Goforth, 47, died at the scene, as law enforcement flooded the area and spent hours searching for the shooter.

There was scant information about Miles available Sunday and no motive had been identified. The 30-year-old seem to maintain a light social media presence and most friends and family of Miles contacted either did not respond to calls or declined to comment.

At the Harris County jail on Sunday, a deputy said Miles was not allowed to have visitors pending the completion of the investigation. He is scheduled to appear in the 208th Harris County District Court at 9 a.m. Monday before Judge Denise Collins. As of Sunday night, no attorney was listed for Miles in court records.

"This is kind of thing drives right down to your soul, strikes at the heart of who we are as peace officers," Hickman said. "Our job is to carry the badge and gun and protect everybody else. Now we've got to fall back and regroup and take care of one of our own."

Hickman said Miles had not provided officers with a motive in the shooting. He was taken in for questioning early Saturday after deputies found the gunman's suspected get-away vehicle — a red, extended cab pickup truck — in the driveway of Miles' house less than a mile from the crime scene.

Goforth had been with the sheriff's office for 10 years. He was stationed in District V in northwest Harris County. He had a wife and two children, a 12-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son.

Friends and colleagues described him as a compassionate and hardworking deputy.

The shooting shocked neighbors of the suspect, plunged Goforth's family and friends into grieving and left law enforcement officials pointing to heightened tensions between police and the public, sparked by recent high-profile violent incidents, as a possible motive.

Flowers began showing up in front of pump 8 at the Chevron station where Goforth was killed about 7 a.m., said Brian McCullar, a retired deputy collecting money for the family. By the end of the day, a crowd of hundreds descended on the Chevron station for a vigil.

"I couldn't 'do nothing,' " said Christine Bossi, who organized the event and led a roadside collection that yielded more than $15,000 for the Goforth family on Saturday. More than 800 ribbons were made and distributed on Saturday. Bossi said she was motivated to act because her brother is an officer in Ohio. Donations will be collected again on Sunday. "We need to be a community. We need to stick together. We need to be here with our officers fighting for them just as much as they fight for us."

"We are here for your good," Lt. Roland De Los Santos, a Houston police officer, told the crowd. "We need for the community to understand that most of us out here are here to help."

De Los Santos met Goforth on the school bus as fourth-graders at Edgewood Elementary in the Spring Branch area.

"He had just come in from Ohio," De Los Santos remembered. "We hit it off right away. From that point on, we were best friends."

Reaction from law enforcement to the deputy's killing centered around growing hostility they said they are encountering from the public, the aftermath of a nationwide examination of police practices in the wake of the shooting of an unarmed African-American in Fergueson, Mo. and other police shootings.

"It is time for silent majority in this country to support law enforcement," said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson at a news conference Saturday afternoon. "There are a few bad apples in every profession, that does not mean there should be open warfare on law enforcement. What happened [Friday] night is an assault on the very fabric of society. It is not anything we can tolerate."

The killing came on the heels of the murder of a policeman in Louisiana and after the controversial death of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African-American woman who died in a Waller County jail cell three days after being arrested during a traffic stop near Prairie View A&M University.

At the press conference Saturday afternoon, Hickman angrily decried the "cold-blooded assassination" of Goforth, tying the incident to nationwide rhetoric about police violence.

"Our system of justice absolutely requires law enforcement to be present, to protect our community," he said. "This rhetoric has gotten out of control."

Deray McKesson, a leader of the Black Lives Matters movement, responded to Hickman's criticisms by saying: "I grieve for the victims of violence. 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."

The last time a Harris County sheriff's deputy was intentionally shot to death in the line of duty came in May 2001 with the death of Deputy Joseph Norman Dennis.

Across the nation, deaths of police officers have increased 10 percent during the first eight months of this year when compared to the same period last year, according to statistics kept by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Washington.

Prior to Goforth's death, 80 officers have died so far this year compared to 73 in the same span last year. Deaths by firearms are up 20 percent. Texas leads the nation with 10 officers killed, followed by Louisiana with nine officers killed during the first eight months this year, according to the group's website.

Houston police added to the deadly toll in May when officer Richard Martin, 47, was run over and killed by a fleeing carjacking suspect who swerved to hit Martin as he positioned a set of strip spikes in the roadway. The suspect, Jeffery Conlin, 33, shot himself in the head as police closed in.

Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland reminded reporters after a memorial service for Martin about the sacrifice officers make to safeguard society.

"Police officers across the nation are catching so much grief and criticism right now and nobody tells them that they're doing a good job," McClelland said. "People like Officer Martin going out here every single day and night and risking their life."

As law enforcement and the community grieved, many continued to wonder about the circumstances behind the shooting.

"When stuff like this happens, we try to make sense of it," said Alberto Rivera, past president of the Mexican American Sheriff's Association, speaking of Goforth's killing. "We wonder if he crossed paths with him somehow or another, did this guy give him a ticket or arrested him before? But that doesn't seem to have happened, because what we heard is he just walked up behind him and fired."

Rivera said public attitudes toward police have changed, and instead of officers getting help from citizens when they are making an arrest, they are being recorded.

"With all the media going on, and the Black Lives Matter, they're making cops seem bad and we're seeing it on the streets," Rivera said. "It's gotten worse where with all the media attention, people don't want to cooperate. When you have a (traffic) stop, they want to record you, and that's fine we have our cameras too. It's one of those things like they say, 'I don't trust cops.' That's the first thing that comes out, 'How do I know you're not going to do something to me.'"

On Saturday, there were still precious few details about many elements of the shooting.

Officials with the sheriff's office said Goforth had gone to the Chevron on Telge and West, about 24 miles northwest of downtown, to refuel his cruiser, as he often did while on patrol. It had been a quiet night, according to the people who saw Goforth before the shooting. He'd rolled in, gassed up and was sitting in one of the six café seats right inside the door of the Chevron station.

"He was sitting right here, doing the usual," said Tim Tate, 39, a regular customer at the station who knew Goforth. "I went out the door for home."

Amjad Latif, manager of the Chevron station, said he was busy with customers and didn't see Goforth leave. When the gunshots rang out, Latif said he did exactly what he was trained to do: He locked the doors of the store and called 911.

What happened in the interim is a point of uncertainty. Others in the store said the shooter approach the door, then went back and continued firing. Latif didn't see anyone approach the door.

"We didn't know what was going on then," he said. Only when police arrived did Latif say he was certain the shots came from the parking lot of the store.

"That's when we found out it was a cop," Latif said.

Surveillance footage captured images of a dark-skinned man wearing a white shirt and red shorts who fled in a red Ford Ranger.

Investigators soon identified Miles as a "person of interest" and took him in for questioning, but did not arrest him until many hours later. Earlier Saturday, deputies were seen searching Miles' two-story brick home about a half mile from the site of the shooting before towing away the red Ford Ranger that was parked in the driveway.

Court records reveal that Miles had a lengthy criminal history. His first reported arrest came in February 2005 for failing to identify and giving false information to police officers. He would be arrested six more times by 2009.

In July 2005 he was arrested by Harris County Sheriff's deputies for criminal mischief. On Oct. 2, 2005, he was arrested again by Harris County and held for eight days for resisting "arrest, search or transport."

In 2006 he was arrested for "discharging or displaying" a firearm. He pleaded guilty and was held for 10 days. On May 3, 2007, Jersey Village police arrested Miles for evading arrest. Nine days later he was arrested again for criminal trespassing by Harris County deputies. On Jan. 29, 2009, Miles was arrested for preventing or obstructing officers duties by using force against the officer.

Gathered near Miles' home Saturday, neighbors expressed shock that such violence could erupt in the normally peaceful neighborhood. Frank Chilton, 61, who lives a few blocks away, agreed it was unnerving to see police looking for clues to a cold-blooded killing potentially committed by a neighbor.

"There is too much emotion going on around here on all ends," he said.

Police kept a wary distance from neighbors and reporters, going about the business of securing the house and the red truck that was later towed away. Some police said rising tensions — and the negative attention law enforcement has received in recent months — have escalated hostilities.

"You think you can get out and stir the pot and not be too concerned about the details," Sgt. Ben Bell with the Harris County Sheriff's Office said, responding to a question about whether the news media bore some responsibility.

Chilton said if the shooter was that bothered, he had issues beyond simple anger.

"When emotion is running that high, logic runs low," Chilton said.

In a statement Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbott said: "An egregious murder like this is an attack on all law enforcement and has no place in a civilized society."

Claudia Feldman, Cindy George, James Pinkerton and John Harden contributed.