LIMESTONE COUNTY, Texas — Officials are searching for a man accused of shooting a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Friday near Mexia.
The shooting happened on U.S. Highway 84 west of Mexia in Limestone County, about 81 miles southeast of Dallas, according to the DPS.
The trooper was taken in critical condition to Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Waco, NBCDFW reported.
Law enforcement personnel are searching for 37-year-old DeArthur Pinson Jr. in the shooting.
DeArthur Pinson Jr. DOB 7/15/84 is currently wanted in connection to a shooting of a Texas DPS Trooper near Mexia, Texas.
Pinson is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached. Contact 911 immediately with any information on his whereabouts. pic.twitter.com/RQ3HbRTrmN— TxDPS – Central Texas Region (@TxDPSCentral) March 27, 2021
Pinson is described as a 6-foot-tall Black man who weighs about 220 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes and facial hair. He was wearing glasses, a black hoodie and shorts with a stripe down the side.
The Texas Department of Public Safety Officers Association identified the critically wounded trooper as Chad Walker, KWTX reported.
The association said Walker responded to the area at FM Road 2848 and U.S. Highway 84 to assist the driver of a car stranded by the side of the road.
“Before Trooper Walker could stop his patrol unit, a black male, identified as DeArthur Pinson Jr., immediately emerged from the driver’s seat of the disabled vehicle armed with a handgun and fired multiple rounds at Trooper Walker through the patrol unit’s windshield,” the association said.
Trooper Walker sustained a gunshot wound “to his head and abdomen,” the association said.
A Blue Alert issued for Pinson states that he was last seen on U.S. 84 and FM480 in Coolidge, Texas, at about 5:50 p.m. Friday.
