Man suspected of killing Texas county sheriff's deputy reportedly arrested

The man suspected of a killing a Texas county sheriff’s deputy has reportedly been arrested at the end of a successful SWAT scene.

Fox affiliate KRIV reports Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies captured the suspect in the murder of Deputy Darren Goforth early Saturday. The man was taken into custody at Pine Falls and Sunny Ridge in northwest Harris County, according to the station.

The suspect’s mother assisted law enforcement officers in the capture of her son, KRIV reports.

Goforth, 47, was pumping gas into his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan told The Associated Press.

Police had described the suspect as a male with a dark complexion, about 5-foot-10 to 6-feet tall, wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts driving a red or maroon pickup truck with an extended bed. Police posted pictures of the suspect from a security camera on Twitter.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said Goforth had traveled to the Chevron station where the shooting happened, after responding to a routine car accident.

“He was pumping into his vehicle, and the male suspect came up behind him and shot the deputy multiple times,” Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle. “The deputy fell to the ground, the suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.”

KRIV reported Goforth was shot once in the head and three times in the back.

The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Houston Police Department were also involved in the search for the suspect.

This is a very tough moment right now for the Harris County Sheriffs Office," Gilliland said. "Keep us in your prayers and in your thoughts."  

"Bob Goerlitz, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization, said the incident was "shocking."

“We've been warned of things like this, because of public sentiment nationally and events over the last few years ... It's just horrific. That's the only way to describe it."

Click for more from KRIV.

Via: Fox News

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Gunman who opened fire at Tennessee movie theater killed by police

A gunman who was also armed with a hatchet opened fire in a movie theater in suburban Nashville, Tenn. Wednesday before dying in a shootout with police.

Fire department spokesman Brian Haas said three people were treated for exposure to pepper spray, and one of those had a superficial wound that could have been caused by a hatchet. No one was taken to a hospital.

The gunman was reportedly identified as a 51-year-old man from the Nashville area. Police spokesman Don Aaron said he was wearing a surgical mask when he unleashed pepper spray inside the theater showing "Mad Max."

Aaron said an officer came into the theater and was fired upon by the suspect. The officer shot back, then backed off. After that, a SWAT team came in, and there was another exchange of gunfire. The suspect was then found dead.

The man also left two backpacks that were being examined by hazardous device officers.

A metro police dispatcher told The Tennessean newspaper the shooting was reported at 1:13 p.m. at the Carmike Hickory Hollow Cinema in Antioch, Tennessee.

Nashville Police confirmed in a tweet that an active shooting situation was reported, and the the suspect was dead. 

The latest shooting comes about two weeks after a gunman opened fire inside a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, during a screening of the film "Trainwreck." Police said John Russell Houser killed two people and wounded nine others before fatally shooting himself.

Via: Fox News

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Exclusive--Texas Lt. Governor: We Shut Down the Border Ourselves

Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst announced a Texas-led three-week effort that he says reduced illegal immigration, smuggling, and human trafficking to a standstill in the Rio Grande River section of the U.S./Mexico border. 

The Lt. Governor spoke with me in an interview for Breitbart News; he stated: “In the Rio Grande Valley sector, nearly nothing moved in those three weeks. We shut it down. We had teams of Texas law enforcement in the brush, high altitude aircraft, gun boats, and more," he explained. “Our intel revealed that the Gulf cartel was growing frustrated with our three-week effort.”

“The border issue is just about dollars and cents,” Dewhurst said. “This proves Texas can do the job the federal government has refused to do — to invest in the border and shut it down from illegal activities that are hurting Texans and other Americans.” He added: "Texas will protect our own citizens and other Americans from the criminal gangs that are destabilizing our state and our nation.”

The plan, according to Dewhurst, was to do a three-week operation with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as the tip of the spear. He said the effort cost approximately $5 million each month. “We are fixing to appropriate more money,” he said. The Lt. Governor is seeking an additional $60 million to be approved by the State Legislative Budget Board. 

Dewhurst stated, “We started appropriating money to plug the holes that exist in the border. We’ve allocated hundreds of millions, as a state, since 2008.” He added: “Nearly 796 million of state money, not a dime federal, has been allocated by the State of Texas to plug the holes in our border. This covers things like over-time for Sheriffs’ deputies,  equipment, and Texas Rangers SWAT teams [referring to the elite Texas Rangers, an arm of the DPS].”

Via: Breitbart

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Bankrupt solar panel firm took stimulus money, left a toxic mess, says report

A Colorado-based solar company that got hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loan guarantees before going belly-up didn't just empty taxpayers' wallets - it left behind a toxic mess of carcinogens, broken glass and contaminated water, according to a new report. 

The Abound Solar plant, which got $400 million in federal loan guarantees in 2010, when the Obama administration sought to use stimulus funds to promote green energy, filed for bankruptcy two years later. Now its Longmont, Colo., facility sits unoccupied, its 37,000 square feet littered with hazardous waste, broken glass and contaminated water. The Northern Colorado Business Report estimates it will cost up to $3.7 million to clean and repair the building so it can again be leased.

“As lawyers, regulators, bankruptcy officials and the landlord spar over the case, the building lies in disrepair, too contaminated to lease,” the report stated.

"If a coal, oil or gas company pulled something like that the EPA would send out SWAT teams and the U.S. Marshals to track down the offenders, bankrupt or not."

- National Legal and Policy Center, a think tank

The owner of the property tried to force a bankruptcy trustee to clean the facility, but the report said it would "place humans at imminent and significant health risk." One of the hazards is the presence of cadmium, a cancer-causing agent that is used to produce the film on the solar panels, the report said.

While the loan guarantees exposed taxpayers to hundreds of millions of dollars, the federal government lost a total of $70 million backing the failed company. Unsold inventory which should have been used to offset those losses, including 2,000 solar panels, mysteriously disappeared, according to theNational Legal and Policy Center.

Via Fox News

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Local cops really excited about their terrifying new tank

The police department in St. Cloud, Minnesota is excited to have a new means of transportation: a menacing, jet-black tank.

The tank will be the official method of transportation for the department’s SWAT team, which was accustomed to driving an old ambulance on “high-risk” missions, according to the St. Cloud Times.

But thanks to Minnesota’s Homeland Security office, the city was able to upgrade to a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP. The tank is worth $400,000, but St. Cloud only paid a $3,000 transportation fee.

“We got to acquire a very expensive piece of equipment that has everything to do with our ability to do our job in a safe effective way,” said St. Cloud Police Lt. Jeff Oxton in reference to the armored car, which is designed for battlefield combat operations.

The SWAT team will use the tank–which is built to endure grenade explosions–when executing search warrants or responding to disturbances that may involve knives or firearms.

Local police are increasingly utilizing military-style vehicles and equipment–in large part thanks to federal government programs. The federal Department of Homeland Security gives billions of dollars to local law enforcement units for the purposes of procuring armored cars and other army gear.

The Minnesota government doled out $3.5 million worth of military equipment to local cops in the last two months.

Via: Daily Caller

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