SIENNA PLANTATION, Texas – A deputy constable has died after a Fort Bend County sheriff’s deputy accidentally shot him in the Sienna Plantation area of Missouri City Friday, officials said.
Officials said the incident happened at around 1:40 a.m. at a home in the 3900 block of Chestnut Bend.
According to authorities, the deputy with Fort Bend Sheriff’s Office and a deputy with the Fort Bend Precinct 4 Constable’s Office were clearing a house together when the FBCSO deputy accidentally shot the deputy from the constable’s office.
Officials said they received a call for a vacant property check-in at Sienna Plantation after a neighbor called and said she saw someone running down the street, though it was suspicious. Officials said three deputies responded, as well as a deputy with Pct 4.
Deputies said they entered the residence through a back door that was not secure. They were then going through the process of clearing the home and at some point in time, the sheriff’s deputy discharged his weapon after he thought that there was a suspect inside the house.
Officials said that deputy, who has been identified as Caleb Rule, 37, was flown to Memorial Hermann with CPR in progress, where he later died.
Authorities said Rule worked for the department for nine months. Prior to that, Rule worked as a detective for the Missouri City Police Department for 14 years. He was a husband and father to four children.
Statements are being taken by the deputies on the scene. Deputies at the scene will be placed on administrative leave pending further investigation by the Texas Rangers.
“I’m not going to say anything was done wrong,” Constable Trever Nehls said. “I think what we have in this certain circumstance is mistaken identity. A tragedy of mistaken identity.” … “I am not going to speculate what I think the deputy felt at that time or what he was feeling as the home was being searched.”
Sheriff Troy Nehls said a thorough investigation is being conducted and it will take time to gather all the information. Nehls said one point of the investigation will be what type of communication there was between Rule and the sheriff’s deputies. The departments share radio channels so they can hear each other’s dispatchers and can communicate with one another on scene.
“This here is something that no law enforcement officer in this country ever wants to have to deal with something like this,” Troy Nehls said. “This is an absolute tragedy ... We want to get (this investigation) right. We want to know exactly what happened. How it happened. What was said (and) who it was said to.”