PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Fired Philadelphia police officer Edsaul Mendoza, accused of fatally shooting 12-year-old Thomas "T.J." Siderio, Jr. in March, is now behind bars and charged with first-degree murder.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said the boy was unarmed, the officer knew it and he shot him in the back from just a few feet away. Mendoza turned himself in Sunday night.
Mendoza was with three other officers in an unmarked police car along Barbara Street in South Philadelphia on March 1 at about 7:30 p.m. None of the officers were in uniform. They switched on the emergency lights at about the same time as a shot was fired through their car.
They believe Siderio fired the shot, and that’s when Mendoza and another officer jumped out and chased after the boy.
“Mendoza calls out, ‘Drop the gun!’ before Thomas Siderio drops it, and then right after Thomas Siderio drops it, he calls out, ‘Get down!’” said District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Related Jawncast: Reaction to Mendoza's arrest from the District Attorney’s office and the Fraternal Order of Police
He added that they don’t know if the boy fell or dove to the ground, but they said the grand jury found he was on his stomach when Mendoza fires into his back, fatally piercing his heart.
Read the full grand jury presentment below.
He says the other cop asked, “Where’s the gun?”
“Thomas Siderio ‘threw the gun around there’ and pointed to the location of the gun,” said Krasner.
“Mendoza knew that this child did not have a gun in his hand.”
Krasner said they have video and audio that shows Mendoza knew the boy dropped the gun 40 feet from where he lay.
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“There are certainly occasions when officers have good reason to believe that there could be a gun in the hand. They make an honest mistake and under those circumstances, even though they have made a factual mistake, the shooting may be justified,” said Krasner.
“There is nothing in the evidence in this case that supports that.”
The gun was in stolen status, and prosecutors couldn’t detail how the 12-year-old got the firearm.
One officer was injured by shattered glass from the car window.
A week after the shooting, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced the officer who fired the fatal shot violated the department’s use of force policy and would be fired.
Mendoza faces first and third-degree murder charges as well as voluntary manslaughter and a weapons offense.
Mendoza’s attorney did not have a comment, but a statement from the Fraternal Order of Police No. 5 said they will represent Mendoza, said he’s “entitled to due process” like everyone else, and that they are “confident that (the) judicial system will protect this officer’s constitutional right to a fair trial.”
Some of Siderio's family members said they are happy the truth is coming out, and they thanked Krasner.
Siderio's grandmother, Mary Helen Siderio Henning, said she woke up to the news.
"You can't bring him back at all. You can't. They don't know what it's like," said Siderio Henning.
"Every day I wake up, and I call his name. I can't sleep. I'm having nightmares thinking he's going to walk through my door. This man destroyed my family."
"It is devastating to learn that this was not only an unjustified shooting. This was murder," said Andrew Duffy, who is representing Siderio's mother, Desirae Frame. He said they're planning on filing a civil rights claim.
Krasner said they are still continuing to investigate.
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