Brazoria County Sheriff's Office shooting: Search for violent killer ends

Man who killed deputy had long criminal history

Robert Davis, the man who shot and killed Brazoria County Sheriff's Deputy Jesus Vargas and was then killed by authorities, had a long criminal history and forfeited on his most recent bond. FOX 26's Damali Keith spoke to businesses nearby about the incident..

HOUSTON - The man who investigators say shot and killed Brazoria County Sheriff's Deputy Jesus Vargas, and then was killed himself, had a long criminal history, and had forfeited on his most recent bond. The deadly gunshots rang out along Stella Link in Southwest Houston.

What we know:

Davis had quite a history before dying in the Stella Link Shopping Center dumpster behind the strip mall.

Timeline:

Just in December 2024, Robert Lee Davis III was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a 17-year-old family member.

In September 2024, his bond was revoked for auto theft in League City.

Davis also had a criminal record under the name Sean Christopher Davis. But no matter what you call him, those in the area say, they feel grateful he's no longer a threat.

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Davis, who spent more than 20 years in prison for aggravated robbery, has a string of robberies on his record. His first criminal charges of trespassing and possession of marijuana came in his teens back in the 1980's.

The 56-year-old was discovered hours after Deputy Vargas was shot to death. Davis was hiding in a dumpster behind the strip mall, where he was shot and killed by officers after detectives say Davis first shot twice at a K-9 officer.

Local perspective:

"We did put trash in our dumpster multiple times yesterday and that is where the suspect was found in our dumpster," says Rachel McKinley, Manager at Winfield's Chocolate Bar.

She was working when the deadly shots rang out.

"We heard bangs. I'm from Canada, so I'm not used to gun violence right in my face. That's not a thing where I'm from, so for me, it was a pretty eye-opening experience. We were all concerned," McKinley explained. She says they were stunned to learn Davis was hiding basically at their backdoor, in their dumpster, in the area hours after investigators say he shot and killed Deputy Vargas in the shopping center parking lot in front of Dollar Tree.

"We're fairly certain we put trash in there while he was in there, and we didn't see him. It's pretty terrifying and how they couldn't have checked the dumpsters earlier was a bit of a mystery to us. But we're here, we're doing our job, and we're super thankful that we're all safe, and our hearts go out to the families of the folks who lost their lives yesterday," says McKinley.

Deputy Vargas was a member of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force. In surveillance footage, you see Vargas and his partner park in front of Davis' brown pick-up truck, attempting to arrest the wanted fugitive, but detectives say Davis opened fire and ran away.

"We loaded trash into the dumpster that was right next to it, right next to it, to the left. It's really frightening. Really traumatizing. Had we opened the wrong one, luckily we didn't, but if we opened the wrong one, that could have been our lives right then and there," says Christian, who works nearby.