‘He truly was a crime fighter’: Deputy killed in northeast Harris County remembered as ‘relentless’ by Sheriff Gonzalez

HOUSTON – The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is mourning one of their own after a deputy was shot and killed on Wednesday night while working.

According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, 28-year-old deputy Fernando Esqueda, was patroling around northeast Harris County at about 10 p.m.

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Authorities said Esqueda and other officers responded to the call of a man who had just pistol-whipped a Little Ceasers’ employee on Wallisville Road.

After arriving to the scene, officers were made aware that the man, later identified as 44-year-old Ronnie Palmer, went into the restaurant to pick up a pizza but was upset because the order was incorrect.

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Following that assault, it is believed that Palmer drove to another location, on Italian Cypress Trail, and Esqueda, working undercover, trailed him. Investigators say he may have had radio issues, but was on the phone with another deputy before being confronted by Palmer.

At some point during the confrontation, Palmer opened fire. By the time additional officers arrived to the second location, they said Esqueda’s patrol car was riddled with bullet holes. Deputies that he had been critically wounded by gunfire.

Officers rushed him to LBJ Hospital by a private vehicle, where he almost immediately died from his injuries, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

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Gonzalez said that the loss of a deputy is truly heartbreaking and something that those in the agency never could prepare for.

Deputy Esqueda has spent the last five years with Harris County and worked in their Elite Violent Person Taskforce.

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He joined the force back in 2019 after graduating from the University of Houston-Downtown’s police department. Afterwards, he reportedly served with different agencies and then worked patrol in the district he died in.

Gonzalez said Esqueda comes from a wonderful family and that his life being cut short is so much promise unfulfilled.

“As a matter of his normal duties, he went after the worst of the worst in our community and did outstanding work,” Gonzalez reiterated. “He loved being a deputy. He loved serving and protecting the community. He truly was a crime fighter, the type of deputies we want.”