Grief didn’t slow search for killer
Deputy’s stunned colleagues combed through data to find pickups like the one seen in video
Minutes after a Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy was gunned down Friday night after refueling his police cruiser at a northwest gas station, his stunned colleagues, grieving for a lost comrade, found themselves in an active manhunt for his killer.
A gas station video of the shooting offered a key detail deputies would use to frame the search for Deputy Darren Goforth’s killer: the gunman fled in a red Ford Ranger. But the pickup’s license plate was too grainy on the footage for the forensics team to make out, Deputy Thomas Gilliland said.
And so as the staff reeled from the loss of their colleague — roughly 1,000 people turned out Sunday to mourn the first deputy killed by gunfire on duty in more than a decade — they combed through state data for red Ford Rangers. They narrowed the vehicle down to those registered in the ZIP codes surrounding the Chevron at Telge and West. About 20 matched the description.
From there, deputies were dispatched to do some “old-fashioned police work,” Gilliland said. With
searchlights overhead from helicopters announcing their presence, deputies tracked down vehicles and knocked on doors.
Back at the cordoned-off gas station, some patrons who initially fled the scene in fear returned to offer their recollections of the shooter.
In addition to his white shirt and red shorts, Gilliland said witnesses recalled the gunman’s demeanor — “did he walk, did he run, that sort of thing” — and other details that deputies used as they sought to match vehicle owners to the suspect’s description.
Within four hours, they had spotted a red Ford Ranger in front of a two-story brick house about a half-mile away from the crime scene that included some “distinctive accessories” deputies knew from the video were in the shooter’s truck.
Deputies took the owner of the pickup, Shannon Jaruay Miles, 30, in for questioning early Saturday morning before formally arresting him hours later.
Miles has been charged with capital murder and will appear in Harris County district court Monday morning.
Miles is accused of walking up behind Goforth at about 8:20 p.m. Friday and shooting him repeatedly in the back without any apparent provocation or motive.
In an email Sunday, Chief Deputy Tim Cannon described the search aftermath.
“We are all distraught and exhausted,” Cannon said. “In my many years of law enforcement I have never seen such a cold callous act against an officer. Also, I have never observed such diligence and focus to apprehend this coward.”
Vigil held for deputy
A makeshift memorial at the Chevron where 47-year-old Goforth was killed overflowed with American flag balloons and flowers. More than 1,000 people attended a vigil for Goforth at the gas station Sunday evening.
As hundreds of marchers from the West Houston Church of Christ approached, marching in West Road, one woman said softly, “Oh my gosh, look at that.”
The marchers sang “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine” as they approached the intersection of Telge and West.
Angela Smoot, 52, drove from north Houston for the vigil.
“This is just beautiful to me,” she said. “It’s just everybody coming together for one cause. This should be every day,” she said.
Goforth’s wife, Kathleen, released a statement saying “there are no words for this.”
“My husband was an incredibly intricate blend of toughness and gentility. He was loyal ... fiercely so. And he was ethical; the right thing to do is what guided his internal compass. I admired this quality, per-haps the most. For that was what made Darren good. And he was good.”
Though Gilliland said no protocol had changed in the wake of the shooting, he said deputies were “keeping aware of their surroundings and good citizen interactions.”
In the hours since Miles’ arrest, much about the Cypress man remains a mystery.
Though deputies alluded to mounting tensions between police and the public in a press conference Saturday, they still have not offered a clear motive for the killing and Miles appears not to have known Goforth.
At the Harris County Jail on Sunday, a deputy said Miles was not allowed to have visitors. Most of Miles’ friends and family either did not return calls for comment Sunday or declined to comment.
In an age where almost everyone leaves telling digital footprints, Miles appears to have shared relatively little about himself.
In an online resume that matches Miles’ name, he listed several stints at fast food restaurants in Houston and nearby universities.
A Facebook page also bearing Miles’ name offered scant details, listed 12 friends and few posts.
A University of Houston spokesperson confirmed Sunday that Miles attended the school at some point, and a newspaper clipping lists him as having played wide receiver for the Cypress Falls High School football team.
A quiet kid
Lee Woods, who identified himself as a friend of Miles’ mother, said he hadn’t seen the family or Miles for almost 15 years. He had few distinct memories of Miles and said he was shocked to learn he was the alleged shooter.
“He was a quiet and secluded kid,” Woods said. “He kept to himself. But he was also just a regular kid.”
Court records show Miles had a lengthy criminal history. His first reported arrest came in February 2005 for allegedly failing to identify and giving false information to police officers.
Miles would be arrested six more times by 2009, including on criminal mischief and resisting “arrest, search or transport” charges.
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 allegedly evading arrest. The next week, he was arrested again on criminal trespassing charges by Harris County deputies.
On Jan. 29, 2009, Miles was arrested on accusation of preventing or obstructing officers’ duties by using force against the officer.