A Houston Fire Department arson investigator was fatally shot early Friday while working surveillance on a case, according to the department.
Investigator Lemuel Bruce, 44, had been part of a team investigating a recent string of arsons in the city, KRIV-TV reports. He was in the city's Timbergrove neighborhood at about 3:30 a.m. after spotting a vehicle of a suspect in the investigation.
Bruce began following the vehicle while waiting for other members of the investigation team to join him. That's when shots were fired.
Bruce was wounded multiple times, and he was taken to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries. The suspect was found dead at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
Joining the Houston Fire Department in 2003, Bruce had been an arson investigator for five years. He is the department's first arson investigator to die in the line of duty.
