Texas Deputy Killed by Former Officer

A former police officer was found dead after a nine-hour standoff at a rural Baytown mobile home Monday, where a Chambers County sheriff's deputy was shot to death while investigating a report of someone opening fire on a utilities worker shutting off water to the residence.

The slain deputy, Shane Thomas Detwiler, 31, of Baytown -- a married father of three young children -- is the second lawman to die in the line of duty in the Chambers County Sheriff's Office's 104-year history. He had just left his job as a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden two months ago and was a decorated military veteran, colleagues said.

A former reserve police officer believed to have killed Detwiler was found dead inside the mobile home Monday night, but authorities aren't sure if he killed himself or was hit by police gunfire, saying they will wait for autopsy results. The gunman's wife, who is accused of shooting at and missing the utility worker, is in custody.

Chambers County District Attorney Cheryl Lieck identified the gunman as 37-year-old Gilbert Ortez Jr. Ortez's common-law wife, Pamela Leggett-Ortez, 29, is charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest, Lieck said. Other charges are pending, she said.

Bomb squad officers were continuing to sweep the couple's mobile home for explosive devices late Monday. Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive said devices that could be smoke bombs or pipe bombs had already been found at the residence.

Authorities described a deadly gunbattle at the Tower Terrace mobile home community, near Houston Raceway Park, which began when a meter reader for a municipal utility district tried to shut off the water at the Ortez trailer home in the 2100 block of West Osage.

"There was a lot of gunfire exchanged," Lieck said Monday night. "It's a miracle not more men were lost. We came close to losing two more."

Ortez, described by officials as a former Kenefick Police Department reserve officer, collected weapons and had previously shown off explosives, said neighbor Randy Young, who lived two doors down from him.

No warning before firing

The violence began sometime after 9:30 a.m. when the meter reader dodged gunfire and escaped injury, said Baytown spokeswoman Patti Jett, reporting on behalf of the Chambers County Sheriff's Office.

Leggett-Ortez, who is accused of firing the shots at the meter reader, was arrested when she came outside on the front porch carrying a gun.

Detwiler, clad in body armor, and Texas Department of Public Service Trooper Kevin Kelley entered the front door and had gotten to the back bedroom when the gunfire erupted again, Lieck said.

Ortez "said nothing" before firing a volley of shots, Lieck said. Kelley fired back, she said.

While the trooper returned fire and retreated, he dragged the mortally wounded Det- wiler through the mobile home with him, trying to reach safety, she said.

The standoff ended around 7:30 p.m. after Ortez was found dead in a back bedroom.

Earlier in the day, SWAT officers used a robot to attempt phone contact with him, then shot tear gas and bean bags into the trailer home.

Ortez is a former police officer from Kenefick, a town of about 660 in Liberty County, officials said. He worked there as an unpaid reserve officer from May 1999 until May 2002, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards records. He became a licensed peace officer in 1995.

No disciplinary action

His peace officer's license had not been suspended or revoked, records show.

Personnel records show the Ortez stopped working for the Kenefick Police Department to seek another job. No disciplinary action was found in the former officer's personnel file, Kenefick city officials said.

Ortez had been arrested twice for unlawfully carrying a weapon -- once by Baytown police in 1989 and again in Chambers County in 1992, public records show. The first offense resulted in deferred adjudication, while the second arrest resulted in a conviction and two years' probation.

Ortez also had a history of assault and family violence, Lieck said.

Detwiler became a Texas game warden in 2003 and was assigned to Chambers County for six years until his resignation on May 20, records show. He began working for the Chambers County Sheriff's Office on May 21.

Numerous police cars were parked outside Detwiler's Baytown home Monday, where the fallen deputy lived with his wife of 13 years. His family declined to comment.

Won Bronze Star in Iraq

Detwiler's former colleagues at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department mourned his death, noting he had been honored for a serving yearlong tour of duty in Iraq in 2005 as a counterintelligence special agent for the 321st Military Intelligence Battalion.

He was awarded a Bronze Star and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal for his military service, they said.

His work overseas included recruiting and exploiting intelligence sources, tactical questioning of Iraqis during raids and conducting searches to determine target identities, Texas Parks and Wildlife officials said.

His team was responsible for identifying key insurgent group leaders, financiers, Iraqi government supporters, foreign government supporters, weapon caches, improvised explosive devices and the manufacturing facilities of such devices, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission's formal recognition of his military service.

The Texas Rangers will take over the investigation of the shootout.

Chronicle reporters Mike Glenn and Dale Lezon contributed to this story.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Funeral Information

Visitation for Deputy Detwiler will be held Thursday, July 16 from 3 to 8 p.m. at Eagle Heights Fellowship Church, 14120 Highway 146, Dayton, Texas.

Funeral services will be held Friday, July 17 at 10 a.m. at Maranatha Church, 12319 Highway 146, Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Burial with law enforcement and military honors will follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery.