Houston • A man charged with killing a suburban Houston officer first shot the 10-year veteran in the back of the head and fired a total of 15 times, authorities said Monday.
Shannon Miles, who is charged with capital murder, appeared briefly in state District Court in handcuffs and shackles.
Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson would not comment on a motive to reporters. This weekend, Sheriff Ron Hickman said the attack was "clearly unprovoked," and there is no evidence that Goforth knew Miles. "Our assumption is that he [Goforth] was a target because he wore a uniform," the sheriff said.
Anderson read the probable cause statement in court, saying that police first received a call at 8:20 p.m. Friday. When authorities arrived at the gas station in the Houston suburb of Cypress, they found Deputy Darren Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the force, face-down. He was already dead, she said.
Surveillance video from the gas station shows that Goforth, 47, had just come out of a convenience store after he had pumped gas and that Miles got out of his red truck, she said.
"He runs up behind Deputy Goforth and puts the gun to the back of his head and shoots," Anderson said.
Goforth was shot 15 times and a witness saw the shooting, Anderson said.
The killing evoked strong emotions in the area's law enforcement community, with Hickman linking it to heightened tension over the treatment of blacks by police. Goforth was white and Miles is black.
The nationwide "Black Lives Matter" movement that formed last year after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., has sought sweeping reforms of policing.
"We've heard Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too," Hickman said Saturday.
Law enforcement officers attend a news conference regarding the shooting death of Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, pictured in back, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015, in Houston. Prosecutors on Saturday charged Shannon J. Miles with capital murder in the Friday killing of Goforth at a suburban Houston gas station. (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Mourners gather at a gas station in Houston on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015 to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial for Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth who was shot and killed while filling his patrol car. On Saturday, prosecutors charged Shannon J. Miles with capital murder in the Friday shooting. (James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT: JAMES NIELSEN/HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Shannon J. Miles, 30, is walked out of the Harris County Sheriff's Department in Houston on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015. Prosecutors on Saturday charged Miles with capital murder in the killing of a uniformed sheriff's deputy who was gunned down from behind while filling his patrol car with gas. (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via AP)
This undated photo provided by the Harris County Sheriff's Office shows sheriff's deputy Darren Goforth who was fatally shot Friday, Aug. 28, 2015. Goforth, was pumping gas into his vehicle when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan told The Associated Press. (Harris County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This image taken from video surveillance provided by the Harris County Sheriffs Office shows the vehicle of the suspect in the shooting death of Deputy Darren Goforth at a suburban Houston gas station Friday, Aug. 28, 2015. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said that surveillance video shows there were people at the gas station and asked that they reach out with any information that could lead to the man who ambushed Goforth. (Harris County Sheriffs Office via AP)(Harris County Sheriffs Office via AP)
Fans of Blue Bell Ice Cream were happy to show off the containers as they were the first in the area to purchase Blue Bell products Monday, Aug. 31, 2015, in Brenham, Texas. Blue Bell Creameries resumed selling its products at select locations Monday, four months after the Texas-based retailer halted sales due to listeria contamination. Blue Bell ice cream is now available at stores in the Houston and Austin areas, including in the company's hometown of Brenham, plus parts of Alabama. (Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via AP)
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