Kim Atkins: Houston deputy killed in shooting just returned from maternity leave, Constable says

Deputy Karim Atkins, 30, leaves behind a wife and an infant who is a few months old, said Mark Hermann, constable for Harris County Province 4.

A gunman “came out of nowhere” and fired at Atkins and other deputies while they were trying to tree someone into custody early this morning. Herman said deputies – Darrell Garrett, 28, and Jaquim Borden, 26, were injured.

Garrett was in the ICU when he was shot in the back and had surgery, Harriman said in a Facebook post. Borden went to the parking lot to help the parking yanties, and “immediately the bullet was immobilized and mobilized,” he added, without adding to the added details.

The shooting happened around 2:15 p.m., with at least four Constable deputies in the province – 45 doing extra jobs at the Norte Sports Bar – to go and fight an upset, authorities said.

“It turns out that this may have been a robbery relay in which they were interfering … probably unknown at the time,” said Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief James Jones.

While the two deputies were working to detain a suspect they were on the ground, a man “came around to a car with a rifle and basically shot them there. The shooter “came from somewhere,” Herman said.

The third deputy “hears guns … yikes … runs afar, and when he does, he doesn’t shoot guns – he is shot,” Herman said.

Meanwhile, Jones, a Houston police officer, said all three deputies had been shot from the back.

Researchers are still searching for the shooter, and believe he is a man in his early 20s. “We expect a suspect to be in custody soon,” Herman said.