{"id":328024,"date":"2026-06-08T20:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T20:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/328024\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T20:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T20:17:07","slug":"texas-state-university-student-john-mendoza-jr-killed-in-brazoria-county-sheriffs-office-shooting-on-way-home-from-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/328024\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas State University student John Mendoza Jr. killed in Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office shooting on way home from school"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas — On Friday, dozens marched and chanted for John Mendoza Jr., who was shot and killed by a Brazoria County, Texas sheriff’s deputy last Monday morning.<\/p>\n

“They took the life of a young man, just reckless and senseless acts of abuse of power, and for nothing, for nothing. My son can’t tell his story; so we have to tell it for him,” said Mendoza’s dad, John Mendoza Sr.<\/p>\n

His family said the story started with Mendoza coming home from Texas State University for the summer.<\/p>\n

They said he was driving home with friends when a Brazoria County sheriff’s deputy attempted to pull him over in Lake Jackson last Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Surveillance video captured the short pursuit after deputies said Mendoza didn’t stop.<\/p>\n

His family said it ended in Mendoza’s garage when a deputy shot and killed him inside his car. His family said Mendoza was not armed.<\/p>\n

“My nephew was murdered in cold blood; that’s exactly what that was,” said Glenda Mendoza, Mendoza’s aunt.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: Former CT officer charged with manslaughter in fatal shooting of man having ‘mental health crisis’<\/a><\/p>\n

The district attorney’s office and Texas Rangers are leading the investigation and confirmed earlier this week that the case will be sent to a grand jury. The Mendoza family and the community are asking for more, including for the Department of Justice to investigate.<\/p>\n

“Let’s do what’s right; let’s get transparency done because it’s the right thing to do,” Mendoza Sr. said.<\/p>\n

“I want the District Attorney Tom Selleck to present the grand jury a murder indictment,” said Mendoza’s aunt, Glenda.<\/p>\n

Mendoza’s dad and aunt are now remembering the football player, dean’s list student and friend, whose life was cut short.<\/p>\n

“He was my heart; he was just such a great young man,” Mendoza Sr. said.<\/p>\n

“I want to say, ‘I love you. I’m so proud of you; you’re a very good boy. You will never be forgotten, and I’m here for you. And I’m going to fight till the end. I love you, John,'” said Mendoza’s aunt, Glenda.<\/p>\n

It’s still not clear what the initial traffic stop was for.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas — On Friday, dozens marched and chanted for John Mendoza Jr., who was shot and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[117202,114824,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-328024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-117202","tag-john-mendoza-jr","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328024","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=328024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}