The Littlefield Police Department is currently investigating two separate shootings; one that occurred on January 8th, resulting in the death of D’Kota Tiller, 26, of Littlefield and the other that occurred on Jan. 30th, resulting in the death of Edward Jimenez, 30, of Littlefield.
Littlefield Police Chief Ross Hester explained that both shootings are still very much death investigations, and that there has not been a formal ruling in either case. The Chief also expressed understanding over concerns in the community regarding these deaths, and frustration over a lack of information being released by law enforcement: “There are many reasons for it, but we want to always be cautious about the information we share. It was my decision and my decision alone; if people are upset, don’t be upset at the Police Department, be upset at me.”
“We’re still waiting on more information, and a lot of times that information is slow in coming,” he stated. It’s not like watching a TV show, it takes time when you’re dealing with companies and social media, it takes a while for information to get back to us. It could take weeks, it could take months, it’s going to take however long it takes, but we’re going to take our time and do it right. And, if there is a case to be presented, we will present it to District Attorney Rickie Redman for her review, and we want to present as good of a case as we can.”
He added, “We’re not going to jump to conclusions, we don’t have any forgone conclusions already drawn; we’re just working the cases and they’re going to take us where they take us.”
Chief Hester also wanted to make clear that in either one of these cases there does not appear to be a credible or discernable threat to the public.
“If there was a threat to the public, we would be forthcoming with a lot more information, as far as a potential suspect,” he said. “As of now, there is no discernable threat to the public.”
Detective Steve Dekraker stated, “Up to this point, we have no information that either investigation is linked, and from everything we’ve gathered they are separate incidents that are being worked completely separately and independently, just at the same time. Both seem to be isolated and involving different groups of people.”
Chief Hester added, “We’re working these cases with the assistance of the Texas Rangers, as well as the Lubbock Police Department. Both of those agencies have been a big help to us.”
Detective Dekraker explained, “We’re not ever going to stop working these investigations until we find the final resolution and the truth of what happened. I think that a lot of people through television and the internet, think things go quickly. In death investigations, where people involved aren’t found on the scene or immediately after, you’re relying on forensics, both digital and physical. Both of those types of analyses take on average several months to complete, due to the time-consuming nature of it.”
He added, “ Whenever you have investigations like this, they can be lengthy. We’re not going to stop. If we have a lead, we’re going to follow it all the way down to the very end and we’re going to process the entire investigation as efficiently as we can, but it is time consuming.”
Chief Hester said that the Police Department’s thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased.