Deputy Vargas was shot and killed Wednesday morning while trying to serve an arrest warrant on Sean Christopher Davis, 56, in Houston. Deputy Vargas was working with the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force when he was killed.
A Blue Alert was issued for Davis around 2:20 p.m., and then around 5 p.m., U.S. Marshal Service K-9 Rocky alerted investigators to a dumpster near the original shooting scene, KHOU 11 reports. The dog alerted to the dumpster several times. Davis reportedly then shot K-9 Rocky twice.
Deputies with the Marshal Service returned fire, shooting and killing Davis in the dumpster, Houston Police said. A deputy was wounded in the arm in the shootout. He's expected to be OK.
K-9 Rocky is expected to recover from his wounds.
"The amazing aspect here that people have to understand, the K-9 saved lives," said Chief T. Michael O'Connor with the U.S. Marshals. "When the K-9 went in there, he decided to take the dog out."