{"id":319601,"date":"2026-06-02T19:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/319601\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T19:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:42:07","slug":"brazoria-county-deputy-shoots-kills-texas-state-university-student-after-car-chase-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/319601\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazoria County deputy shoots, kills Texas State University student after car chase, report says"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas \u2013 A Texas State University student was shot and killed by a Brazoria County Sheriff\u2019s deputy early Monday morning after an attempted traffic stop in Lake Jackson. <\/p>\n

The news was first reported by The University Star, Texas State\u2019s student-run newspaper<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In a Tuesday statement to KSAT, the university identified the student as John Gabriel Mendoza Jr., 18. He was a freshman who studied management, according to the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, classmates, and all those affected by this tragedy,\u201d the university said in its statement. <\/p>\n

Deputies attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle just after midnight Monday near Farm-to-Market 2004 and This Way Street in Lake Jackson, the sheriff\u2019s office said. <\/p>\n

The driver of the vehicle, who was identified as Mendoza by The University Star, did not stop, deputies said. The deputies then chased after the vehicle for approximately a mile into a neighborhood located in the 100 block of Indian Warrior Trail.<\/p>\n

According to the sheriff\u2019s office, the driver went inside a home\u2019s garage and parked before a deputy approached the vehicle, the release said. <\/p>\n

The deputy then pulled out his firearm and shot into the vehicle. The sheriff\u2019s office said the gunfire struck the driver. <\/p>\n

The University Star reported that Mendoza was the one shot. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. <\/p>\n

The deputy who pulled the trigger has since been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the Brazoria County Sheriff\u2019s Office policy. <\/p>\n

KSAT reached out to the Lake Jackson Police Department and the Brazoria County Sheriff\u2019s Office for more information, but neither agency has responded at this time. <\/p>\n

The shooting investigation is being led by the Texas Rangers, according to a Brazoria County Sheriff\u2019s Office news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas \u2013 A Texas State University student was shot and killed by a Brazoria County Sheriff\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13358,114583,114584,27,29,28,2426],"class_list":["post-319601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-brazoria-county","tag-brazoria-county-sheriffs-office","tag-lake-jackson","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}