Rule was responding to a call for a property check at a home in the Sienna Plantation subdivision when he was shot by a sheriff's deputy. Authorities called the incident an accident.
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Since 2015, nine police officers died in accidental firearm-related incidents in the United States, according to statistics compiled by the FBI.
In the Houston area, a police officer was accidentally shot in the arm by his partner in 2015 at the end of a chase.
In 2005, Harris County Precinct 6 Reserve Deputy Constable Nehemiah Pickens was accidentally shot and killed by a deputy during a foot chase with a suspect. Pickens was off-duty and was not in uniform when the accident happened.
Friendly fire incidents are a small fraction of the accidental deaths and injuries over the years across the country.
A Houston police officer's holster was believed to be the culprit in an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2019. The officer was shot in the thigh during training, Houston police said at the time.
More than 236 officers have died since 2015 in a variety of incidents, including 10 who have drowned while on duty, according to the FBI. Most of the deaths and injuries were the result of motor vehicle crashes.