A Texas deputy sheriff was shot to death early Sunday, launching a manhunt for the suspect.
Cpl. Charles Galloway, 47, a 12-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office was killed at about 12:45 a.m. during a traffic stop.
“This has got to stop,” Constable Ted Heap said during a news conference at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, according to Fox News.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said witnesses told police a man got out of his vehicle, fired multiple shots at Galloway, then drove off, according to The Associated Press.
Finner said he believed the gun used was an “assault-type weapon,” Fox reported.
‘We have got to put an end to this’
Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap spoke early Sunday, as did other local leaders, following the fatal shooting of Pct. 5 Constable Charles Galloway.
https://t.co/MuUXyFlKbY pic.twitter.com/EuI1hgjB7T— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) January 23, 2022
“This is senseless. It makes no sense whatsoever,” Finner said.
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Finner said the incident was a routine traffic stop and that Galloway was shot before he could get out of his patrol car, according to KHOU-TV.
Multiple shots were fired, Finner confirmed.
Heap said Galloway had no time to defend himself.
“Message to the suspect, the best thing you can do is turn yourself in peacefully,” Finner said, according to KHOU.
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Heap said shootings of police officers have become too commonplace, and expressed the shock of the community over the deputy’s shooting.
“We have got to put an end to this,” Heap said. “I don’t want to raise my family, my grandchildren, in a county where this type of crime is running rampant.”
Heap said Galloway mentored younger officers.
“There is a lot of very broken up officers who he meant a lot in their lives because he was the one sitting in the front seat with him,” Heap said, according to KHOU. “He was the one teaching them what to do and how to get home safely to their families and here we are this evening with the roles reversed.”
RIP to Harris Co PCT 5 Corporal Charles Galloway, shot and killed in the line of duty this morning during a traffic stop in SW Houston, HPd days. The 47 year old leaves behind a daugher. The latest coming up at 6:30 on #KHOU11 Morning News. pic.twitter.com/78Hm1aEGxG
— Lauren Talarico (@KHOULauren) January 23, 2022
The suspect was described as a “younger Hispanic male,” Finner said, according to Fox.
The vehicle stopped was a white, four-door, Toyota Avalon.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.