Deputy constable in Houston is shot and critically injured in apparent ambush

reporting from HOUSTON —  In what appears to be the second ambush of a law enforcement officer in the Houston area in eight months, a veteran deputy constable was shot multiple times while his back was turned after a traffic stop, authorities said Thursday.

Deputy Alden Clopton, a 48-year-old father of six whose wife is a sheriff’s deputy, was expected to survive, officials said.

The shooting happened about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday near Texas Southern University, after another officer, Deputy Ann Glasgow, pulled a driver over for running a stop sign, according to Harris County Precinct 7 Constable’s Office spokeswoman Pamela Greenwood.

During the traffic stop, Glasgow, who has been on the job about a year, called for another deputy to assist her, Greenwood said. Clopton responded.

After they finished with the traffic stop, Glasgow told Clopton that she was having trouble with the audio in her dashboard camera, and asked him for help.

“He was leaning in instructing her as to how to fix the audio so she could have audio with her video. That’s when a suspect out of nowhere comes up and opens fire, not related to that traffic stop,” Greenwood said.

“We think that our officer was ambushed,” Constable May Walker said.

Several shots struck Clopton. Glasgow, who was not wounded, got out of the car and fired one shot at a suspect standing across the street, but the man apparently was not wounded and ran away.

Clopton, who was rushed to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center for surgery, was struck in the chest, with a bullet piercing his diaphragm.

Dr. Joseph Love, his attending trauma surgeon, said Clopton had six bullet wounds. Surgery was successful, but he was still in intensive care late Thursday in critical condition, Love said.

“We were at the hospital this morning and Deputy Clopton made it through after a long surgery. The doctor had to do quite a few repairs to his abdomen, and there is also a bullet lodged quite close to his heart,” Greenwood said. “They left it.”

Walker said that investigators did not have a suspect late Thursday and that the deputy who jumped from the car to return fire only saw the shooter from behind.

Clopton, who grew up in the area he patrolled, is an 11-year veteran of the Precinct 7 constable’s office and knows the area well, Walker said.

The officer’s son, Todre Clopton, 26, a police officer in Biloxi, Miss., said he learned his father had been shot from social media and rushed to the hospital.

He described his father as a role model of self-sufficiency.

“He’s the one who works for what he owns, provides for his children,” he said. “He grew up on the same streets where he serves.”

Clopton said he had been able to talk to his father, who can communicate only through gestures: “We joke about one-uppers; how can I one-up you now?”

Todre Clopton’s message to fellow officers: “Watch your back. To always be vigilant and make sure you back each other up, because as you can see, these things are becoming a trend.”

This is the second high-profile shooting in less than a year in the area that authorities characterized as an ambush on law enforcement.

Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was fatally shot in the back of the head on Aug. 28 while in uniform and filling up his vehicle at a gas station in Cypress, about 25 miles northwest of Houston. Shannon Miles, 30, who lived nearby and has a history of mental illness, was indicted on a charge of murder but was found incompetent to stand trial in February.

Authorities did not immediately release a description of the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting, but officials said that a man who matched the gunman’s description walked into a nearby fire station and was being held by police for questioning, though he has not been arrested or charged.

Twitter: @mollyhf