Officials are searching for a man accused of shooting a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Friday near Mexia.
Law enforcement officials are searching for 37-year-old DeArthur Pinson Jr., in the shooting, which happened near U.S. Highway 84 west of Mexia in Limestone County, about 81 miles southeast of Dallas, according to the DPS.
The Texas Department of Public Safety Officers Association identified that wounded trooper as Chad Walker, a husband and father of four.
Walker was taken in critical condition to Baylor Scott and White Medical Center Hillcrest in Waco.
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The officer's association said the trooper was called to a motorist assist on FM2848, where a vehicle was disabled on the side of the highway.
As Walker started to pull behind the stopped vehicle, the association said a man got out of the driver's side and began to shoot multiple times into the patrol unit's windshield. Walker was shot in the head and the abdomen.
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The man grabbed a backpack from the vehicle and fled on foot, the association said.
The DPS described Pinson 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.
Pinson is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached, the DPS 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.
Blue Alerts are intended to speed the apprehension of people accused of killing or seriously wounding law enforcement officers. Information about the suspect is broadcast to the public with the goal of collecting tips on the suspect. The state's program was creating in 2008.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts may call 911 or 254-315-8287.
