HOUSTON (December 7, 2012)--Authorities are investigating after a sheriff’s deputy shot a suspected shoplifter to death during a confrontation outside a Houston-area Walmart store.
Harris County sheriff's Deputy Louis Campbell confronted several female suspects suspected of stealing from the store Thursday evening, the Harris County Sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff's spokesman Thomas Gilliland said Campbell chased one of the suspects after she hit him.
The woman then got into a car.
Gilliland said that when Campbell opened the car's door, the driver of the vehicle accelerated.
He said the deputy was standing between the car door and driver's seat and, fearing for his life, fired his weapon.
The vehicle sped away.
The unidentified woman was found dying at a nearby apartment complex.
The sheriff's office and the Harris County District Attorney's Office are investigating.
