A fired Philadelphia police officer pleaded guilty Friday to murder for fatally shooting a 12-year-old boy as he ran away, but prosecutors say the boy was on the ground and unarmed when the officer opened fire. He announced that he was there.
Edsaul Mendoza also pleaded guilty to possession of criminal tools as part of a plea agreement with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. His sentencing date has not been disclosed.
The Associated Press left a voicemail message seeking comment from Mendoza’s attorney on Friday.
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Mendoza was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in the March 2022 shooting death of Thomas “TJ” Siderio, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney. The department said at the time that the footage contradicted the officer’s testimony. Police said the boy first fired at an unmarked police car, injuring one of the four plainclothes officers inside.
Mendoza, a five-year veteran, was fired a week after the shooting by then-Police Chief Daniel Outlaw, who said his actions violated department policy.
A Philadelphia police vehicle photographed at the scene of a mass shooting in 2022. (FOX29 Philadelphia WTXF)
Authorities said Siderio threw the gun about 40 feet down before he was shot, then stumbled and failed to comply with commands to get down and fell to the ground.
Police said four officers were in an unmarked vehicle searching for a teenage boy they wanted to interview in connection with a firearms investigation. They spotted Siderio and an unnamed 17-year-old boy and maneuvered the car around the block and next to them and initiated a stop.
Prosecutors said Monday that a bullet went through the back seat window and ricocheted around the car at about the same time the officers turned on their red and blue lights. One officer was treated for injuries to his eye and face from broken glass.
Mendoza and another officer on the passenger side got out of the car and fired one shot each, police said. Mendoza then chased Siderio around the block and fired two shots at “relatively close range,” prosecutors said, hitting the boy once in the back.
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Siderio’s family sued Mendoza and the city in January, alleging that his death was the result of “egregious systemic policy failures” within the police department.
