HOUSTON - - Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a suspected shoplifter by a sheriff's deputy during a confrontation outside a Houston-area Wal-Mart store.

Officials say Harris County sheriff's Deputy Louis Campbell confronted several female suspects suspected of stealing from the store Thursday evening.

Sheriff's spokesman Thomas Gilliland says Campbell chased one of the suspects after she hit him. The woman then entered a car.

Gilliland says that when Campbell opened the car's door, the vehicle accelerated. He says the deputy was standing between the car door and driver's seat and, fearing for his life, fired his weapon.

The vehicle sped away. The unidentified woman was found dying at a nearby apartment complex.

The sheriff's office and the Harris County District Attorney's Office are investigating.