In the early morning hours of August 8, 2019, the life of 14-year-old Hispanic male, Zavier Mendoza, was cut tragically short in a townhome in Olathe, Kansas. Just weeks away from starting his freshman year at Olathe East High School, where he had aspirations of playing football, Zavier was fatally shot during what police described as an armed disturbance. The incident unfolded around 2:15 a.m.
in the 12500 block of South Constance Street, where responding officers discovered the young teen had died at the scene from a gunshot wound.
The events leading to the fatal shooting began earlier in the night when Zavier, along with three other teenagers, were engaged in "car hopping," a term for stealing items from unlocked vehicles. During this activity, the group discovered a handgun inside a car. Surveillance footage from the area later confirmed that Zavier was the one who removed the weapon from the vehicle. The group then returned to the home of one of the teens, where they began to play with the firearm. For a period of 20 to 30 minutes, the gun was passed around among the boys.
A 13-year-old from Roeland Park, who was with the group, took the unloaded gun and, in a fateful display of immaturity, pointed it at each of the other teens, pulling the trigger. At some point after this, Zavier reportedly reinserted the magazine into the handgun before handing it back to the 13-year-old. Not realizing the magazine had been replaced, the younger teen racked the slide, pointed the weapon at Zavier Mendoza, and fired the fatal shot. He would later tell police he did not know the gun was loaded and believed he was pointing it at a wall when Zavier moved in front of him.
Hours after the shooting, Olathe police arrested the 13-year-old boy, who was known to Zavier. The Johnson County District Attorney's office subsequently charged the teen with second-degree murder. The case went to trial, where the defense argued that the shooting was a tragic accident and that the client did not know the gun was loaded. In January 2020, after about three hours of deliberation, a jury found the teen, by then 14 years old, not guilty of the charge, concluding a night of reckless behavior that ended in the death of a friend.
