A Texas deputy who was shot four times after a late night traffic stop on Thursday is expected to survive, authorities said.
Deputy Constable Alden Clopton, 48, an 11-year veteran and field training officer with the Harris County Constable Precinct 7, was the victim of an "ambush," Lt. Holland Jones told reporters.
The shooting happened at 11:18 p.m. CT, after Clopton helped a fellow deputy, Ann Glasgow, conduct a traffic stop in Houston’s Third Ward, near Texas Southern University, police said.
He was leaning through the rolled-down passenger window of Glasgow's patrol car, trying to help her fix the audio on her dash-cam, when a gunman approached him from behind and fired six shots, authorities said.
Glasgow "jumped out on the driver's side and she pulled her weapon," Constable May Walker told reporters. "She saw someone running away and she shot at him."
It was unclear if the man was struck, but a "person of interest" who matched the shooter’s description appeared shortly after at a nearby fire station, Houston Police Department spokesman Kese Smith said. The person, who was not injured, was detained for questioning, Smith said.
Walker later said that authorities were interviewing people but no suspect was in custody. She added that Glasgow could not describe the man she saw fleeing from the scene.
Clopton, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, suffered six wounds to his abdomen and chest, said Joseph Love, a surgeon at Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute, during the news conference. Love said that Clopton, who was still on a ventilator and feeding tubes but otherwise "doing quite well," would likely remain in the hospital for a week.
Clopton is a father of six who comes from a family of cops. His son Todre described him as "a dad just like any other dad in America."
"He's the one who provides for his children and makes sure that they have everything that they need," Todre Clopton said.
Asked if he'd been able to speak with his father, Todre said he had "not gotten a response of talking back." But, he added: "He has acknowledged that knows who we are. He has acknowledged that he understand us."