In the early morning hours of June 15, 2023, Natalie Marie Classen, a 30-year-old woman, was walking with friends in Reading, Pennsylvania, after a night out. Their path home took them to the intersection of 10th and Greenwich Streets, where they encountered another group. An argument broke out between the two groups, a seemingly insignificant dispute that would soon escalate with tragic consequences.
From the other group, a young man named Henry Mendoza approached.
He was armed with a Taurus 9mm semi-automatic pistol. During the verbal altercation, Mendoza fired a single shot, striking Classen in the lower abdomen before fleeing the scene with his companions. Despite being gravely wounded, Classen managed to flag down a taxi and was rushed to Reading Hospital. However, her injury was too severe, and she succumbed to it while officers were still securing the crime scene.
The investigation into Natalie Classen's death quickly led police to Henry Mendoza, who was just nine days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the shooting. He was arrested and charged as an adult with first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and other related offenses. The firearm used in the shooting was recovered the day after the incident in the basement of Mendoza's residence on Greenwich Street. The Berks County District Attorney suggested that Classen may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in a fatal encounter with the wrong group of people.
In December 2024, at the age of 19, Henry Mendoza pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Following the plea, he was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison. It was also revealed that this was not Mendoza's only violent crime; just days before fatally shooting Classen, he was involved in a drive-by shooting for which he was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
