A Philadelphia police officer has been charged with murder after shooting a 12-year-old boy in the back. The agent was arrested and then remanded in custody on Sunday May 1.
The 26-year-old officer, Edsaul Mendoza, whose dismissal from the police was made in April, will appear in court and will have to answer in particular for the charge of “premeditated murder”.
The facts date back to March 1. That day, the officer patrols in civilian clothes with three other colleagues, in an unmarked car. They spot 12-year-old Thomas Siderio with another 17-year-old and decide to follow them.
As they trigger the flashing light of their car, Thomas Siderio opens fire on the police, who chase him on foot. One of the officers replies without aiming but Edsaul Mendoza shoots three times in the direction of the young people.
OFFICER CHARGED IN BOY’S KILLING: A former Philadelphia police officer has been charged with murder in the death of a 12-year-old Thomas Siderio, who was fatally shot in March. @PierreTABC has more. https://t.co/H0QnpJjfyS pic.twitter.com/zEfaIZa1bc
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) May 3, 2022
The teenager drops his gun, yet the policeman fires a third and final shot at him in the back. A scene captured by a CCTV camera that scared Philadelphia prosecutor Larry Krasner, denouncing “very difficult images to watch”.
In a statement relayed by the New York Times, a police union expressed “confidence in the judicial system to protect the constitutional rights of this officer to a fair trial”.