Brazoria County Sheriff Bo Stallman made his first public statement<\/a> about the shooting since it happened early Monday morning.<\/p>\nJust after midnight on June 1, a deputy, identified as Tippit, followed Mendoza Jr. into his father\u2019s garage after an attempted traffic stop led to a pursuit.<\/p>\n
The deputy fired a single shot that dispatch communications later described as an accidental discharge.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur limited public comments should not be interpreted as a lack of concern, urgency, or recognition of the seriousness of this incident,\u201d Sheriff Stallman wrote.<\/p>\n
He said his office is committed to full cooperation with the investigation \u201cno matter the results,\u201d but cited the ongoing nature of the probe as the reason he cannot address specific facts publicly.<\/p>\n
The case is being investigated by the Texas Rangers and the Brazoria County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
The reason for the original attempted traffic stop has not been disclosed. The deputy remains on paid administrative leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease continue to keep the family, our community and all those affected by this tragedy in your prayers as our community grieves,\u201d the sheriff added.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, surveillance footage obtained exclusively by KPRC 2 News and shared by family attorney Charles Adams showed Mendoza Jr. pulling into his father\u2019s driveway just after midnight Monday. Within eight seconds of the deputy\u2019s sirens stopping, a shot is heard.<\/p>\n
In the video, no audible commands from the deputy can be heard before the shot was fired.<\/p>\n
More than 30 seconds after the shooting, scanner traffic appears to capture the deputy reporting an accidental discharge. The first ambulance arrived roughly 10 minutes after the shot was fired.<\/p>\n
Mendoza Jr. had just completed his freshman year at Texas State University, where he played football. His father described him as a dedicated student and athlete.<\/p>\n
Adams said Mendoza Jr. had spent the evening at a park with childhood friends, all of whom were unarmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son was murdered in his garage, and this just isn\u2019t right,\u201d John Mendoza Sr. said. \u201cThis is a senseless situation that could have been avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brazoria County District Attorney Tom Selleck also issued his first public statement Wednesday, saying the findings of the investigation will be presented to a grand jury for review.<\/p>\n
According to prosecutors, investigators are conducting a \u201cthorough and comprehensive investigation\u201d that will include forensic testing and other evidence analysis.<\/p>\n
Officials said those investigative steps could take several months to complete.<\/p>\n
Once finished, investigators will present the case \u201cin its entirety\u201d to a grand jury for review and possible action.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur office extends its deepest sympathy, our thoughts and our prayers to all parties involved. We thank the community for its cooperation, understanding, and patience as we move through this process,\u201d Selleck wrote.<\/p>\n
The District Attorney\u2019s Office also said no additional public comments will be made while the matter remains under grand jury consideration.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE JACKSON, Texas \u2013 The name of the deputy involved in the shooting which led to the death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13358,114583,59804,114824,115541,114584,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-323037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-brazoria-county","tag-brazoria-county-sheriffs-office","tag-deputy-involved-shooting","tag-john-mendoza-jr","tag-kevin-tippit","tag-lake-jackson","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323037","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=323037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}