John Mendoza Jr. shooting: Lawyer representing former Brazoria Co. Deputy says deputy didn't know gun went off

HOUSTON - Guy Womack, the lawyer representing former Brazoria County Deputy Kevin Tippit, spoke with FOX 26 on Thursday evening after Tippit was indicted this week for the shooting death of John Mendoza Jr that occurred in July. 

Lawyer representing former Brazoria County deputy talks with FOX 26

According to records, Tippit has been charged with aggravated assault by a peace officer with a deadly weapon. That is a first degree felony that allows for a reckless culpable mental state.

Tippit was booked and arrested by the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. His bond has been set at $250,000.

The interview

During the interview, FOX 26 asked Womack what Tippit remembers from the situation: "Well, he remembers everything that's shown on the video, seeing the car fishtail, following the car, then having to chase the car. Falling right into the subdivision, seeing it drive into an open garage in the dark, getting out of his vehicle, running to the garage. Try to intercept the driver before he went in the house and possibly hurt someone. Again, keep in mind the deputy had no idea who he was chasing or why they were so desperate as to flee at such high speeds, running through red lights and going well over 123 miles an hour. He remembers all of that. He remembers everything that's on the video, but he doesn't recall the sound of the firearm and doesn't recall the recoil. And that's actually fairly common for people in a high stress situation with adrenaline flowing. He had run 30 yards or so to the garage, and it's easy to understand that."

Also during the interview, FOX 26 asked Womack to help get a better understanding of why the gun fired. "We don't know, you know, logically you would think he must have had his hand on the trigger and, in all the excitement, it went off. We don't know that. I know that the Texas Ranger sent the weapon to be checked. We haven't received the discovery yet. We'll get that in the next couple of weeks, I think. And we'll look at that and see if it could have been a default or defect in the firearm. We don't know."

Lake Jackson teen shot and killed

The backstory:

According to the sheriff’s office, just after midnight on June 1, Deputy Tippit tried to pull over John Mendoza Jr. near FM 2004. There were other teens reportedly in the car at the time.

Authorities say Mendoza kept driving and eventually stopped inside his garage at a home on Indian Warrior Trail. Following an encounter, the deputy fired his gun, shooting Mendoza. He later died at the hospital.

FOX 26 obtained dispatch audio from the night of the incident, which includes the words "accidental discharge."

Search warrant revealed new details

Dig deeper:

An affidavit released in July stated that around 12:50 a.m. on June 1, investigators had learned of an officer-involved shooting on Indian Warrior Trail in Lake Jackson involving a Brazoria County Sheriff's Office Deputy. 

According to the affidavit, after reviewing Tippit's body camera, Tippit was parked on Oyster Creek Drive, north of FM 2004, and his unit was facing south. 

Authorities said they observed from the dash camera video that at approximately 12:06 a.m., a red Dodge Challenger turned westbound and accelerated onto FM 2004 from Oyster Creek Drive in Richwood, Texas, in a manner that caused the rear of the vehicle to lose traction with the road, which resulted in the vehicle's rear sliding right then left before recovering. 

It was further observed that Tippit reacted to the Red Dodge Challenger entering FM 2004 by driving his patrol unit behind the Red Dodge Challenger.

The affidavit stated that Tippit caught up to the Dodge Challenger on FM 2004, east of Yaupon Street in Lake Jackson. It was also seen that Tippit had not turned on his lights at this point. 

The document goes on to claim the dash camera video showed that once Tippit caught up to the Dodge Challenger, the Red Dodge Challenger accelerated excessively beyond the posted 50 mile per hour speed limit sign, which resulted in Tippit activating his emergency lights and siren in an effort to stop the Dodge Challenger. 

Dash camera video also showed that the Dodge Challenger continued to disregard Tippit, reaching speeds of 120 miles per hour. The affidavit stated the video showed  the Red Dodge Challenger disregarded six red traffic lights before arriving on Indian Warrior Trail. 

The affidavit said that body-worn camera and patrol unit's dash camera, as the Dodge Challenger pulled into the driveway, the home's 2-car garage door opened, the Challenger pulled inside the garage, and the garage door began to shut.

According to court records, the body-worn camera video showed Tippit entered the garage through the open door and approached the driver's door of the Red Dodge Challenger. As Tippit approached the driver's door, Tippit pulled his pistol and discharged it into the passenger compartment of the vehicle through the driver's door window, documents state.

Body-worn camera video showed that Tippet opened the Challenger driver's door and learned that the driver, Mendoza Jr., was struck by the bullet, the affidavit said. 

Documents state that body-worn camera video caught Tippit notifying the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office dispatch via his portable radio that he had an accidental discharge and had one male bleeding. 

The affidavit said, "affiant knows through training, experience, and Deputy Tippit's firearm just going off, that Deputy Tippit was referring to his firearm going off when he reported accidental discharge."

As a result, a search warrant was requested for the firearm to determine that the firearm was properly functioning.