Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas flags across the state be lowered to half-staff in honor of slain Harris County Deputy Sheriff Darren Goforth on Sept. 4.
Abbott also asked that law enforcement officers turn on their patrol vehicles’ red and blue flashing lights for one minute at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 4, the start time for Deputy Goforth’s funeral.
Goforth, 47, reportedly was targeted for wearing a uniform.
He was gunned down on Aug. 28 while refueling his vehicle at a convenience store in the Houston suburb of Cypress. Surveillance video helped law enforcement trace, capture and arrest a suspect, Shannon J. Miles, 30. Investigators retrieved a .40 caliber handgun at the suspect’s residence. Ballistics testing matched the handgun to ammunition used in the shooting. The suspect has been charged with capital murder.
Two honored posthumously
Gov. Abbott in an Aug. 26 ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion posthumously awarded the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the state or federal military forces by the State of Texas, to two Texans: U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle and Lt. Col. William Edwin Dyess.
Kyle’s medal was presented to his wife, Taya Kyle. Dyess’s medal was presented to his sister, Elizabeth Denman.
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