Suspect arrested and charged in connection with death of Texas deputy sheriff

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HOUSTON – A suspect was arrested and charged with fatal shooting of a deputy sheriff in the greater Houston area while police were conducting a manhunt following a robbery at a pizzeria, authorities said.

Deputy Fernando Esqueda, 28, was killed early Thursday morning by a suspect who allegedly pistol-whipped a pizza shop clerk hours earlier, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.

Ronald Palmer Jr. was arrested around 7 p.m. Thursday following a manhunt that resulted in Esqueda being killed, Gonzalez said during a news conference Thursday evening.

Palmer was charged with aggravated assault against the Little Caesars Pizza employee. Gonzalez said at the press conference that he was not charged in Esqueda’s death, but a social media post from Gonzalez later said Palmer was charged with capital crimes.

Harris County sheriff’s officers responded to a report of an assault on a clerk at a Little Caesars Pizza in the Houston area just after 10 p.m. Wednesday. A customer who went to pick up a pizza he ordered became angry because the order was wrong, struck the clerk with a pistol and fled, Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Lee said.

The clerk provided a description of the customer’s vehicle and its license plate, which was traced to a location where officers began searching for the vehicle, Lee said.

Esqueda found the vehicle around noon on Thursday, Gonzalez said. Officers found Esqueda with multiple gunshot wounds and took him to the hospital.

“We don’t know exactly what happened at this point. We’re still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together,” Gonzalez said. “But at this point, it appears he was ambushed. He was shot heavily and upon arrival at the hospital, he was pronounced dead.”

Esqueda was “highly valued” as a member of an elite anti-violence task force and had worked for the sheriff’s office for about five years, Lee said.

The deputy, along with all other sheriff’s department employees, had been working 12-hour shifts to ensure security and prevent looting. Hurricane Berylsaid Lee.