A Texas father allegedly gunned down an harmless Amazon supervisor who was spending Christmas away from his household after mistaking him for his daughter’s kidnapper.
Jonathan Ross Mata, 39, was captured aiming his pistol at a fleeing SUV exterior a Shell fuel station in Houston and unloading gunfire, killing 25-year-old Desmond Butler round 1 a.m. on Dec. 25, in line with footage obtained by KHOU 11.
The tragic chain of occasions started when Mata and his spouse obtained a frantic name from their 19-year-old daughter, who stated she had been attacked by her boyfriend, Houston Police stated.
She initially requested to be picked up from her cousin’s house, however a couple of half hour later, Mata and his spouse believed she would as an alternative be dropped off on the fuel station by her boyfriend.
Moments after the frantic mother and father arrived on the Shell station, a car that was pushed by a person who resembled their daughter’s boyfriend and a girl using within the passenger seat pulled into the lot, in line with a felony grievance obtained by Legislation & Crime.
“Defendant said that he thought his daughter was within the car which was pushed by (Butler) and that because the car drove previous them, his spouse bought out and commenced chasing it on foot,” the grievance said.
Surveillance video exhibits Butler driving his grey Honda Pilot into the fuel station lot and passing the Matas’ black GMC Acadia on the pump, when Mata’s spouse out of the blue hopped out and ran after the car, reaching for the rear passenger door.
Butler — seemingly unaware of what was taking place — then accelerated out of the parking zone and onto an entry highway of the Sam Houston Parkway.
The footage cuts again to the GMC, the place Mata is seen strolling towards the fleeing Honda whereas armed with a pistol.
Mata then allegedly opened hearth on the Honda Pilot, hanging Butler, who then misplaced management of the car and crashed right into a pole.
Mata and his spouse then drove to the crash web site and pulled open Butler’s passenger door after realizing he was not their daughter’s boyfriend, in line with the grievance.
“(The defendant). seemed contained in the car and stated one thing to the impact of, ‘Oh, we had been in search of our kidnapped daughter, I’m sorry, we’ll name 911,’ after which drove away,” the grievance said.
By the point first responders arrived, the couple had left the scene, and Butler was rushed to a neighborhood hospital, the place he later died from his accidents.
Mata and his spouse confirmed up at police headquarters with a lawyer on Monday and claimed the lethal taking pictures stemmed from a kidnapping misunderstanding.
Mata informed investigators he fired two pictures on the car in an try and cease it, then watched it crash earlier than he left the scene with out calling for assist, in line with the grievance.
Mata is charged with homicide and turned himself in on Wednesday. He posted a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to look in courtroom on Feb. 25, Legislation & Crime reported.
Butler’s sister, Future, informed KHOU 11 that their household, which lives in Georgia, is “devastated” by his demise.
She stated her brother moved to Houston in 2023 to work at Amazon, later turning into a supervisor, and had no plans that Christmas Day.
“We simply need solutions on why him? My brother was a light-weight of pleasure,” she stated.
