HoustonPublicMedia.org

A sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed after a traffic stop in East Texas on Tuesday, bringing the total number of on-duty officer fatalities in the state this year to 18. A report out Monday from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found Texas already led the nation in officer fatalities in 2019. The total was up from 11 deaths last year. Seven of the officers who died this year were killed by firearms, six were killed in traffic-related incidents, and five of the fatalities were considered “other.” Marcia Ferranto, the memorial fund’s CEO, said that usually means “some kind of a medical event.” She said the breakdown is largely on par with national trends: There were 49 firearms-related fatalities and 43 traffic-related ones in 2019.