Texas Deputy Is Shot to Death on His Way to Work

A deputy constable in Houston was killed on his way to work early Tuesday afternoon when a man walked up to his car at an intersection, shot the deputy multiple times and fled, the police said.

The shooting happened around 12:35 p.m. in the western part of the city, the police said at a news briefing.

Before shooting the deputy, the attacker had gotten out of a car, which he used to flee, said Noe Diaz, chief of the Houston Police Department.

The deputy, Maher Husseini, who was driving a vehicle that was not a patrol car when he was shot, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The motive for the shooting was unclear, the police said.

Several hours later, the police said that they had detained a person of interest in the killing in Galveston, a city roughly 50 miles southeast of Houston. They did not release the person’s name.

Mr. Husseini had been a deputy for the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office, a law enforcement agency, since 2021, the constable’s office said.

Detectives were still interviewing witnesses and canvassing the area around the intersection for video footage on Tuesday afternoon, when Chief Diaz said at the news conference that the assailant was driving a charcoal-gray Chevrolet Impala sedan with a disfigured bumper.

The shooter was described as a 200-pound Asian or Middle Eastern male about 5 feet 9 inches tall wearing a gray top and dark bottoms. He was described as being 35 to 40 years old and having dark hair and being somewhat bald.

Chief Diaz said he did not believe Mr. Husseini was in uniform, but noted that the information was still preliminary. Mark Herman, the precinct 4 constable, told the local television news station KPRC 2 that Mr. Husseini had been wearing his gun belt and deputy pants when he was shot, but it was unclear if he was in full uniform.