HOUSTON — A Houston sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed in an ambush early Thursday morning, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The 28-year-old Deputy Fernando Esqueda had been with the sheriff’s office for five years and was a member of the Harris County Violent Persons Task Force, a group charged with tracking down the county’s most violent offenders.
The incident occurred in northeast Harris County and started at a Little Caesars Pizza Wednesday night where police were called in for an aggravated assault at little after 10 p.m.
According to Chief Deputy Mike Lee, the suspect was upset about an order and was yelling at the employees. He then pistol whipped one worker before driving off.
Lee said deputies were working 12-hour shifts to help with post-storm patrols and responded to the incident alongside investigators.
One employee identified the suspect’s car, and detectives linked that car to other crimes in a specific area. Esqueda and others went to that location, but they originally could not find the car.
Esqueda later found the vehicle in another location, and as he was calling in for backup, he was ambushed, Lee said.
When backup arrived at the scene, they found the undercover car with multiple bullet holes and the deputy inside. They got Esqueda out of the car and drove him to the nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“None of us are ever prepared for such an untimely death and our members need your prayers and support,” Sheriff Gonzalez said. “Our thoughts are with his family as they come to terms with this horrible news.”
A suspect, 44-year-old Ronald Palmer Jr., was later arrested and charged with capital murder in the death of Esqueda following a manhunt Thursday evening.
Gonzalez posted on X, formerly Twitter, that one of Esqueda's closest friends told him "Fernando would be so proud right now," after Palmer was apprehended.
