13-year-old boy died after a 20-year-old man approached him while he waited for his mother’s night shift to end and shot him to death at close range; man arrested
California – In a deeply disturbing act of senseless violence in California, a 20-year-old man, identified as A. Chavez, has been arrested and charged with murder after walking up to a 13-year-old boy, identified as S. Mendez, who was waiting for his mother’s night shift to end, and fatally shooting him at close range.
Chavez was taken into custody Thursday evening, less than a mile from the crime scene. He now faces one count of murder in the death of Mendez, whose life was taken in an unprovoked and brutal assault outside his mother’s workplace. Authorities say Chavez approached the boy without any apparent motive, shot him multiple times, and fled the scene on foot.
The killing occurred shortly before midnight on Saturday, August 25. Mendez was spending the evening with his mother, who was working her night shift as an attendant. Around 11:35 p.m., the boy left her car and entered the station to briefly speak with her. He was walking back outside when everything changed. According to Sheriff R. Luna, a tan four-door vehicle pulled into the gas station shortly after Mendez left the building. The driver parked near a pump and went to the service window, where he engaged with the victim’s mother in casual conversation. Chavez, seated in the rear of the same vehicle, got out and began lingering around the area.
As Mendez was returning to the gas station, he passed by the suspect, Chavez. Authorities stated that there was no indication of any interaction or conflict between the two. Investigators believe the encounter was completely unprovoked, with no verbal exchange or confrontation taking place before the shooting. That’s when Chavez allegedly pulled out a firearm, took several steps forward, and opened fire on the boy. After Mendez collapsed, Chavez reportedly stood over his body and fired several more rounds into him before fleeing to a nearby neighborhood.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to the scene at approximately 11:45 p.m. and found Mendez lying outside the station. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The community was left stunned—not just by the brutality of the act, but by the fact that it happened in front of the child’s mother, who had just seen her son alive only moments earlier. Authorities condemned the brutal act, saying the way this murder happened, in front of his mother, is completely unacceptable. “We as a community must not tolerate this kind of violence. We are here today to get this violent individual off our streets and to seek justice for Mendez and his family,” Luna said.
Four days after the shooting, detectives made a breakthrough. Around 5:50 p.m. on August 29, deputies spotted Chavez’s vehicle and conducted a traffic stop. Chavez was arrested without incident and booked into the sheriff’s station. He is being held on a $2 million bond. The driver and another female passenger who had been in the tan car during the fatal shooting remained at the scene and cooperated with law enforcement. They were questioned and later released.
Chavez has not entered a plea, and a court date has not yet been scheduled. Authorities have not disclosed a motive, and according to all available evidence, there was no previous interaction between Chavez and Mendez before the shooting. For a family, a community, and those who bore witness, the heartbreak is immense. What began as a typical night shift ended in horror, with a child gunned down only feet from the mother he waited for.
