Houston: An Indian-American Sikh police officer died after being shot multiple times from behind in a "ruthless, cold-blooded way" during a traffic stop in the US state of Texas, a senior official said Saturday. Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, Harris County Sheriff's deputy, was shot while conducting a traffic stop, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. Dhaliwal, who was in his early 40s, was the first police officer in Texas to serve while keeping his Sikh articles of faith, including a turban and beard. Gonzalez said Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran of the department, stopped a vehicle with a man and woman inside and one of them got out and shot him "ambush-style" at least twice in a "ruthless, cold-blooded way."

The shooter was seen running to a shopping centre nearby, officials said. Investigators were able to identify what the shooter looked like by watching Dhaliwal's dashcam video. "They immediately looked at his dashcam to see what the suspect looked like, they took a photo of the suspect on the scene with their phone and immediately got that out to our intel people," Gonzalez said. The vehicle the shooter was driving was found and is being investigated, officials said. The gunman and the woman were taken into custody, they said.