ANGLETON, Texas \u2013 Dozens of demonstrators filled the sidewalk in front of the Brazoria County Courthouse Friday, demanding accountability in the shooting death of 18-year-old John Mendoza Jr., a Texas State University student.<\/p>\n
The crowd called for three things: a murder charge against Brazoria County Deputy Kevin Tippit, the release of body and dash camera video, and a federal civil rights investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want justice, and we want it now,\u201d protesters chanted outside the normally quiet Angleton courthouse.<\/p>\n
Father: \u2018My son was murdered\u2019<\/p>\n
John Mendoza Sr. stood alongside family members and a visibly emotional crowd, calling for accountability.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son wasn\u2019t even 19 years old, and this is not right,\u201d the father said. \u201cMy son was murdered for a senseless and reckless act, abuse of power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surveillance video first obtained by KPRC 2 News shows the final moments of a two-minute pursuit on Monday morning. Deputy Tippit attempted to pull Mendoza over before Mendoza drove into his father\u2019s garage. The sirens stopped. No commands could be heard. Eight seconds later, Deputy Tippit\u2019s gun could be heard going off.<\/p>\n
Tippit appears to have called it an accidental discharge on the scanner. The bullet went through Mendoza\u2019s rolled-up driver-side window, according to the family, who says the wound proved fatal at the hospital.<\/p>\n
Family calls for murder charge before grand jury<\/p>\n
Mendoza\u2019s aunt, Glenda Mendoza, was direct in what she wants prosecutors to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake that presentation to the Grand Jury as a murder charge, because that\u2019s what it should be,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was murdered in cold blood. He was unarmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s office has not said what prompted the initial traffic stop. Community activists suggested Friday it may have been racially motivated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis happens to good people,\u201d said Dr. Sergio Lira of Greater Houston LULAC. \u201cWe will no longer tolerate the senseless killing of young Latino males, young African Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy had less than two years on the job<\/p>\n
State records show Deputy Tippit has been a licensed peace officer for less than two years and previously worked as a jailer. The community is now calling for him to face criminal charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these agencies and these organizations say that they stand for justice, and that\u2019s all we\u2019re asking for,\u201d Mendoza Sr. said. \u201cShow us that that\u2019s who you are, because this could be any of our sons, any of our daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Statement from family attorney<\/p>\n
In a new statement from family attorney Charles Adams on Friday, he slammed Sheriff Bo Stallman and District Attorney Tom Selleck in the handling of the case. <\/p>\n
\u201cSheriff Stallman and DA Selleck should do the right things with immediacy. They should both officially identify Deputy Tippit. They should release all relevant audio and video recordings of the incident and interactions prior to the shooting. And they should arrest and charge Deputy Tippit,\u201d attorney Adams wrote.<\/p>\n
What comes next<\/p>\n
The Brazoria County District Attorney says the Texas Rangers\u2019 investigation could take months. The findings are expected to be presented to a grand jury.<\/p>\n
KPRC 2 News requested footage from Deputy Tippit\u2019s body and dash cameras, and so far, DA Selleck has not said whether the video will be released.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANGLETON, Texas \u2013 Dozens of demonstrators filled the sidewalk in front of the Brazoria County Courthouse Friday, demanding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13358,114583,114824,7301,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-324832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-brazoria-county","tag-brazoria-county-sheriffs-office","tag-john-mendoza-jr","tag-police-shooting","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324832","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=324832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}