HOUSTON, Texas -- Harris County deputies Thursday were searching for a 44-year-old man in connection with the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old deputy late Wednesday, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
Ronnie Palmer, 44, is already wanted on an aggravated assault charge for a separate incident in July in the 15000 block of Wallisville Road, Gonzalez said. Court records weren't immediately available on what exactly he's accused of in that case.
But Gonzalez said Palmer is also sought as the suspect in the death of Fernando Esqueda, 28, a five-year veteran with the sheriff's office."None of us are ever prepared for such an untimely death and our members need your prayers and support. Our thoughts are with his family as they come to terms with this horrible news," Gonzalez said across two posts on X.
Esqueda had been a member of the Violent Person's Task Force.
Authorities were called at 10:10 p.m. Wednesday about an aggravated assault at Little Caesers at 15634 Wallisville Road. A customer apparently became upset because his order was wrong and attacked the pizzeria's clerk, according to the department. The customer first verbally assaulted the worker before pistol-whipping the person and fleeing, Chief Deputy Mike Lee said.
The Little Caesars worker identified the car the attacker got in, authorities said, and officers used a Flock camera system to identify an area where the car's plates tended to turn up.
Authorities said they arrived at the pizzeria and didn't find the car there. But one officer circled back and found the car was now at the location.
"There was some confusion at that point at what happened as far as the transmissions, whether his radio was having difficulty," Lee said. "We know he had a phone conversation with one of the other detectives, let him know that he did have the suspect vehicle in sight, didn't have the suspect in sight, and then during that phone conversation, our deputy, apparently, was ambushed."
Other officers returned to the location and found Esqueda in his car with multiple gunshot wounds. Lee said they brought him to Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, where the officer died.
___
(c)2024 the Houston Chronicle
Visit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
