Crazed customer pistol-whips staff and kills elite cop over wrong order at a at a Little Caesars pizza shop in Houston, Texas

Ronnie Palmer, 44, started to verbally assault the clerk at the counter, before pistol-whipping a Little Caesars employee on Thursday

He then fled the scene, but injured clerk was later able to provide officers with a description of the suspect’s vehicle and his license plate

Deputy Fernando Esqueda tracked him down, but was killed in a hail of gunfire before he could step out of his unmarked car

Tracked down and arrested without incident late Thursday night, Palmer Jr has been charged with capital murder and and two counts of aggravated assault 

Alleged pizza parlour killer Ronald Ronnie Palmer Jr. 44, was taken into custody late Thursday by Harris County deputies after allegedly attacking a Little Caesars employee in Houston and shooting dead an elite officer. He is charged with capital murder

An irate Little Caesars customer allegedly pistol-whipped staff members after they got his order wrong – and then went on to kill an elite cop in what authorities are now calling a ‘senseless’ crime.
Harris County Chief Deputy Mike Lee said deputies received a call shortly after 10pm Wednesday night, regarding an aggravated assault at a Little Caesars pizza shop in Houston, Texas, where a suspect allegedly became upset that his order was wrong.
The 44-year-old suspect, later identified as Ronald Ronnie Palmer Jr, started to verbally assault the clerk at the counter, officials say. Finally, he pistol-whipped the employee before fleeing the scene.
When responding deputies arrived, the injured employee provided officers with a description of the suspect’s vehicle and his license plate.
Using the information Deputy Fernando Esqueda was able to track down the fugitive. 

Dep Fernando Esqueda, 28, notified his colleagues that he spotted Ronnie Palmer’s vehicle when  he was shot multiple times on Thursday morning by the suspect

The 28-year-old deputy, who was working overtime to keep residents safe in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, then notified his team members that he thought he spotted the vehicle.
‘During that phone conversation, our deputy was apparently ambushed,’ Chief Lee said at a Thursday morning news conference.
Other detectives in the area rushed to his location, and ‘saw his undercover vehicle with multiple gun strikes in it,’ the chief said.
One of the first deputies to arrive to Esqueda’s location was his own sister, who ‘pulled him out of the car.’ According to an ABC 13 report, Brenda Esqueda said her brother and another sister worked undercover for HCSO.
Fellow officers who noticed that Esqueda was shot multiple times, rushed him to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Palmer reportedly, became irate after Little Caesars employees got his order wrong, escalating from verbal assault to pistol whipping the employee before he fled the scene 

A number of houses and a vehicle across the street were also hit by gunfire, ABC 13 reports.
Fortunately, neighbors said the people who lived in the homes were not there at the time due to some ongoing power outages. 
The shooting prompted a manhunt for Ronnie Palmer. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announcing a $10,000 bounty for is arrest.
SWAT teams later setting up barriers at two locations in an effort to capture the suspect, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote on social media.
Palmer was finally taken into custody on Ghita Lane off C.E. King Parkway in northeast Harris County’s Bavaria neighborhood late Thursday night. The suspect surrendered peacefully.
Investigators believe he had been moving around throughout the day. They tracked him to the house on Ghita, not far from his mother’s house. Authorities said no one else was inside at the time of his surrender.
Afterward, Palmer spent a few hours at the HCSO Detectives Bureau before his transfer to the Harris County Jail.
Initially wanted for an aggravated assault, the suspect was booked for capital murder. Palmer Jr has been charged with capital murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the death of Deputy Fernando Esqueda.
The bond for the aggravated assault charges is $50,000 each, but bond has not been set for the capital murder charge.

Killed: Dep Fernando Esqueda, [photo], was a five year veteran of the Harris County sheriff’s dept, working in the Violent Person Task Force when he was shot dead by a suspect on Thursday, July 11 in Houston, TX

Esqueda had worked in the sheriff’s department’s Violent Person Task Force, which Lee said hunts down child rapists, homicide suspects and ‘some of the most egregious criminals out there.’
‘He went after the worst of the worst,’ the chief deputy said at the news conference Thursday, saying there was ‘so much promise unfulfilled.’
Sheriff Gonzalez also wrote on social media that Esqueda ‘was dedicated to protecting and serving the residents of Harris County.
‘We pray with Deputy Esqueda’s family, friends and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time,’ he said.
‘Deputy Esqueda’s commitment to duty and his sacrifice will always be remembered.’ 

Earlier in his law enforcement career, Esqueda [right], worked as an East Aldine Pro Active Deputy, according to Terry Garza, who said she was his sergeant

Tracked down and arrested without incident late Thursday night, Palmer initially wanted for aggravated assault, has been charged with capital murder 

Prior to joining the sheriff’s office, Esqueda was an East Aldine Pro Active Deputy, according to his former sergeant Terry Garza, who described him in a Facebook post as ‘one of the best deputies I ever had to supervise,’ and ‘an amazing patrolman with a heart of gold.’
Garza noted Esqueda once responded to a call in which children did not have any food, and he and his partner went out to buy food and snacks so that they could eat.
‘Kids always wanted to take photos with him because he was a role model to them and he always had a big smile on his face,’ she recounts. He worked so hard so the community could be safe.
‘Rest in peace young hero!!’