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 outdoors a Shell fuel station in Houston and unloading gunfire, killing 25-year-old Desmond Butler round 1 a.m. on Dec. 25, based on footage obtained by KHOU 11.
The tragic chain of occasions started when Mata and his spouse acquired a frantic name from their 19-year-old daughter, who mentioned she had been attacked by her boyfriend, Houston Police mentioned.
She initially requested to be picked up from her cousin’s house, however a few half hour later, Mata and his spouse believed she would as a substitute 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 driving within the passenger seat pulled into the lot, based on a prison criticism 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 acquired out and commenced chasing it on foot,” the criticism said.
Surveillance video reveals 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 abruptly hopped out and ran after the car, reaching for the rear passenger door.
Butler — seemingly unaware of what was occurring — then accelerated out of the car parking zone and onto an entry street 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 fireplace on the Honda Pilot, putting Butler, who then misplaced management of the car and crashed right into a pole.
Mata and his spouse then drove to the crash website and pulled open Butler’s passenger door after realizing he was not their daughter’s boyfriend, based on the criticism.
“(The defendant). regarded contained in the car and mentioned one thing to the impact of, ‘Oh, we had been on the lookout for our kidnapped daughter, I’m sorry, we are going to name 911,’ after which drove away,” the criticism 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 advised 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, based on the criticism.
Mata is charged with homicide and turned himself in on Wednesday. He posted a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to seem in courtroom on Feb. 25, Legislation & Crime reported.
Butler’s sister, Future, advised KHOU 11 that their household, which lives in Georgia, is “devastated” by his demise.
She mentioned her brother moved to Houston in 2023 to work at Amazon, later changing 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 mentioned.
