Philadelphia police officer charged with murder for fatal shooting of 12-year-old TJ Siderio in the back

A former plainclothes Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a 12-year-old boy who allegedly fired into the rear window of an unmarked patrol car has been charged with his murder.

Edsaul Mendoza faces charges of first- and third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and possessing an instrument of crime in the death of Thomas “TJ” Siderio, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced Monday.

He turned himself in Sunday night and is being held without bail.

On March 1, Mendoza and three other plainclothes officers on the South Task Force were in South Philly investigating a social media post about a teenager with a gun when TJ allegedly fired into their car.

Mendoza and another officer, Kwaku Sarpong, got out to chase TJ and each fired one shot at the fleeing boy, according to Commissioner Danielle Outlaw. Sarpong then held back while Mendoza kept chasing him, firing twice. One bullet hit TJ in the upper right back and exited through his left chest.

TJ was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

The 9mm Taurus semiautomatic handgun that TJ allegedly fired, then tossed was found five houses away from where he was killed, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Mendoza was less than half a car’s length from Siderio when he fired the third shot, close enough that he would have been able to “see Siderio clearly,” Krasner said Monday. The officer was standing above the boy, who was on the ground, when he fired.

“Mendoza knew that TJ Siderio was unarmed before he shot him through the back,” Krasner said.

Asked if he considered this an assassination, Krasner said it was important that he “not characterize it.” Instead, he said, he would leave that up to a Philadelphia jury.

“I find this very very disturbing and very difficult to watch,” the district attorney said.

Mendoza was fired a few weeks after the shooting, with Outlaw noting that “it was clear that the use-of-force policy was violated.”