Harris County Sheriff’s deputy, Sandeep Dhaliwal, was fatally shot and killed on Friday September 27th during a routine traffic stop. 

The ambush happened when Dhaliwal made a traffic stop at 12:23 pm. The driver and Dhaliwal were shown to be speaking for about 2 minutes and after looking at the dash cam Major Mike Lee of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said “it looked to be just conversational there was no combat, no arguing. It looked like a routine traffic stop that we conduct every day.” When Dhaliwal started walking back to his car, the driver ran up behind him, taking out his gun, shooting him in the head and “basically ambushed him” said Major Mike Lee. 

The police identified the shooter as Robert Solis, he has been charged with capital murder, and the police have found the possible murder weapon. He had an active parole violation which means he has been to jail for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2017, but no personal motive was found for this murder. The women in the passenger seat is also in custody for not reporting this incident. 

Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal helped change county laws pertaining sikh religious rights in the workforce by allowing sikh men to wear their religious headwear and grow out their facial hair. The mayor expressed gratitude towards Dhaliwal for being a great person and said , “The story of him putting the Sikh imperative of ‘seva’ — selfless service — on display as a peacekeeper went worldwide. In that role he was a walking lesson in tolerance and understanding, which are values Houstonians uphold here in the nation’s most diverse big city.”