Texas deputy fatally shot during search for suspect in assault on pizzeria clerk

HOUSTON — A Houston-area sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot during an ambush while searching for a man who pistol-whipped a pizzeria employee, authorities said Thursday.

Harris County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an assault on a store clerk at Little Caesars Pizza in the Houston area shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday, Deputy Chief Mike Lee said at a news conference.

A customer who picked up a pizza he had ordered became upset because the order was wrong, hit the clerk with a pistol and ran off, Lee said.

As officers searched for the customer’s vehicle, one officer notified others that he had found it and was communicating with another officer when he was apparently ambushed, Lee said. When others arrived, they found the officer had been shot multiple times and rushed him to the hospital, where he died, he said.

Lee did not identify the officer by name but said he was a member of an elite team that focused on violent individuals and had been with the sheriff’s office for about five years.

“He was very good at his job, and he was very well thought of,” Lee said.

Authorities believe they have a good idea who the suspect is and SWAT teams have been stationed at two locations, Lee said, expressing confidence that he will be arrested “in a timely manner.”

“If the suspect happens to see this, he should do the right thing and turn himself in,” Lee said.