A Texas father allegedly gunned down an innocent Amazon manager who was spending Christmas away from his family after mistaking him for his daughter’s kidnapper.
Jonathan Ross Mata, 39, was captured aiming his pistol at a fleeing SUV outside a Shell gas station in Houston and unloading gunfire, killing 25-year-old Desmond Butler around 1 a.m. on Dec. 25, according to footage obtained by KHOU 11.
The tragic chain of events began when Mata and his wife received a frantic call from their 19-year-old daughter, who said she had been attacked by her boyfriend, Houston Police said.
She initially asked to be picked up from her cousin’s apartment, but about a half hour later, Mata and his wife believed she would instead be dropped off at the gas station by her boyfriend.
Moments after the frantic parents arrived at the Shell station, a vehicle that was driven by a man who resembled their daughter’s boyfriend and a woman riding in the passenger seat pulled into the lot, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Law & Crime.
“Defendant stated that he thought his daughter was in the vehicle which was driven by (Butler) and that as the vehicle drove past them, his wife got out and began chasing it on foot,” the complaint stated.
Surveillance video shows Butler driving his gray Honda Pilot into the gas station lot and passing the Matas’ black GMC Acadia at the pump, when Mata’s wife suddenly hopped out and ran after the vehicle, reaching for the rear passenger door.
Butler — seemingly unaware of what was happening — then accelerated out of the parking lot and onto an access road of the Sam Houston Parkway.
The footage cuts back to the GMC, where Mata is seen walking toward the fleeing Honda while armed with a pistol.
Mata then allegedly opened fire on the Honda Pilot, striking Butler, who then lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a pole.
Mata and his wife then drove to the crash site and pulled open Butler’s passenger door after realizing he was not their daughter’s boyfriend, according to the complaint.
“(The defendant). looked inside the vehicle and said something to the effect of, ‘Oh, we were looking for our kidnapped daughter, I’m sorry, we will call 911,’ and then drove away,” the complaint stated.
By the time first responders arrived, the couple had left the scene, and Butler was rushed to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
Mata and his wife showed up at police headquarters with a lawyer on Monday and claimed the deadly shooting stemmed from a kidnapping misunderstanding.
Mata told investigators he fired two shots at the vehicle in an attempt to stop it, then watched it crash before he left the scene without calling for help, according to the complaint.
Mata is charged with murder and turned himself in on Wednesday. He posted a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 25, Law & Crime reported.
Butler’s sister, Destiny, told KHOU 11 that their family, which lives in Georgia, is “devastated” by his death.
She said her brother moved to Houston in 2023 to work at Amazon, later becoming a manager, and had no plans that Christmas Day.
“We just want answers on why him? My brother was a light of joy,” she said.
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