A Texas police officer responding to a domestic disturbance call on early Monday ended up fatally shooting an off-duty sheriff's deputy who lived inside the North Texas home, the Associated Press reported.
The unidentified officer responded to the call shortly after midnight, eventually killing 41-year-old Larry Bryan Hostetter in the overnight hours, Nocona police Chief Kent Holcomb said. Hostetter, a law enforcement officer since 2000, had been with the Montague County Sheriff's Office since January 2013.
The matter is being investigated by Texas Rangers, with Holcomb and Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunningham declining to release additional details of the shooting, according to CBS News.
"It's difficult," said Cunningham on Monday, pausing to fight back tears. Since his office only had seven deputies total, he compared them to his children. "Small departments are family."
On Monday morning, an officer with the Nocona Police Department was dispatched about a disturbance call to Hostetter's house, about 50 miles southeast of Wichita Falls, Holcomb said, adding that the uninjured responding officer has been placed on paid administrative leave.
About an hour after the shooting, the 41-year-old victim, a married father of three children, died at Nocona General Hospital, Cunningham said.
It remains unclear what prompted the Nocona officer to fire his weapon, but Holcomb added that there is no search for an active shooter and that the community is not in any danger. No other information was provided, KWTX.com reported.
"Larry was a good person. He enjoyed the job, loved the job," Cunningham said. "We want to offer our thoughts and prayers to the families involved in this incident."
