According to authorities and court records, a former Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a 12-year-old kid two years ago was given a jail term ranging from eight to twenty years for third-degree murder on Monday.
The judge was sought by the prosecution to sentence Edsaul Mendoza, who on March 1, 2022, shot Thomas “TJ” Siderio in the back, to 20 to 40 years in prison.
Prosecutor Clarke Beljean stated at a press conference that part of the reason for this was that shortly after the deadly gunshot, Mendoza looked online for airline tickets to the Dominican Republic, where he was born and raised.
After more than a week, according to Beljean, Mendoza looked up countries online without extradition agreements with the United States and discovered Cuba didn’t.
According to Beljean, he then looked there for airline tickets. The 28-year-old Mendoza was accused of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and possessing a weapon used in criminal activity.
In a deal with the prosecutors, he entered a guilty plea in exchange for a sentence that adhered to the sentencing guidelines for third-degree murder, which include a minimum of seven and a half years.
In April, Mendoza entered a guilty plea to homicide. Although TJ was never given a chance to appear in court, Beljean stated, “That was a fair, just, and equitable sentencing in this case.”
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“Edsaul Mendoza got every benefit of the criminal justice system that he deprived TJ Siderio of by shooting TJ in the back,” he stated.
Prosecutors alleged that Mendoza fired three shots at the young man, who then pointed a revolver at an unmarked police car, forcing many plainclothes officers to run for cover. This information was given to the grand jury.
Prosecutors claim that when TJ threw a gun, Mendoza fired two of his three bullets.
According to Beljean, the youngster was shot in the back after he had stopped running and was on his hands and knees. Mendoza will be fired for breaking the department’s use-of-force guidelines, which included employing excessive force, police announced shortly after the shooting.
