Ex-Philadelphia police officer sentenced to at least 8 years in shooting death of 12-year-old boy

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A fired Philadelphia police officer who pleaded guilty to murder in the shooting of a fleeing 12-year-old boy was sentenced Monday to at least eight years in prison.

Edsaul Mendoza, a five-year veteran of the force who was fired a week after the shooting in 2022, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in April in the shooting of Thomas “T.J.” Siderio.

Mendoza said in court that he felt sorrow and regret just before he was sentenced to 8 to 20 years. He originally was charged with first- and third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter but agreed to a plea deal. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney, and exact details of the sentencing provisions weren’t immediately available.

Prosecutors said the 12-year-old boy was on the ground and unarmed when Mendoza fired the fatal shot into his back. Police said the youth had first fired a shot at an unmarked police car, injuring one of four plainclothes officers inside.

The boy threw a gun down about 40 feet (12 meters) before he was shot and then either tripped or dropped to the ground, according to authorities.

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Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said surveillance video contradicted some of the officer’s statements. That included Mendoza’s account that the boy pointed a gun at him and that he was standing in the street when he fired, rather than almost over him on the sidewalk, according to information prosecutors presented to a grand jury.

Four officers had been in an unmarked car, looking for a teenager they wanted to talk with about a firearm investigation, police have said. They saw Siderio and an unnamed 17-year-old and maneuvered the car around the block and next to them to initiate a stop.

Prosecutors said that almost at the same time the officers turned their red and blue lights on, a shot came through the back passenger window and ricocheted around the car. One officer was treated for injuries to his eye and face caused by broken glass.

Mendoza and another officer on the passenger side got out and fired one shot each, according to police. Mendoza then chased Siderio down the block, firing twice and striking the boy once in the back in what prosecutors say was “relatively close range.”