Teen testifies he didn’t know gun was loaded in fatal Olathe shooting
A 14-year-old on trial for murder in Johnson County said he didn’t know a gun he and other teens were playing with was loaded when one of them was killed, according to court documents.
The teens had allegedly stolen the gun from a car and were handling it when an Olathe 14-year-old was shot and killed in August.
Prosecutors charged the teen with second-degree-murder for the killing of Zavier Mendoza after the early-morning shooting in the 12500 block of South Constance Street. The teen was on trial this week in Johnson County District Court in Olathe.
According to testimony, the 13-year old, who has since turned 14, Mendoza and two other teens found a handgun while “car hopping,” or stealing from cars, in an Olathe subdivision. The Star does not generally name juvenile suspects unless they are moved to adult court.
Surveillance video of the area showed Mendoza removing the gun from a car, according to court records.
Mendoza put the gun’s clip in his pocket, one of the teens told police.
They went back to one of the teen’s homes, where they passed the gun around and “played with” it for 20 to 30 minutes according to prosecutors.
During that time, the teens told police, the 13-year-old pointed the unloaded gun at each of them and pulled the trigger.
At some point, prosecutors said, the teen gave the gun back to Mendoza, who put the magazine back into the weapon before handing it back to the 13-year-old.
One of the other teens told police that he did not believe the 13-year-old realized the magazine was in the gun when he “racked the slide” of the gun, pointed it at Mendoza and shot him.
The 13-year-old told police that he had been pointing the gun at the wall when he shot but that Mendoza moved in front of him. He said he did not know the clip was in the gun.
He is not the first 13-year-old to be charged with murder in the Kansas City area.
In 2008, two 13-year-olds were charged with murder in separate incidents in Wyandotte County.
One was charged as a juvenile and sentenced to the maximum juvenile sentence.
Keaire Brown was charged as an adult and sentenced to life in prison.
In closing statements in the trial this week in Johnson County, assistant district attorney Don Hymer said the killing occurred during a night of lawlessness by four young men.
He argued that the teen’s actions were reckless and showed extreme indifference to the value of human life.
In his closing statement, defense attorney Jerry Merrill argued that his client didn’t know the gun was loaded.
“This wasn’t murder,” Merrill said.
He said there was no evidence that the teen thought the gun was reloaded. The gun wasn’t loaded the last time he had it, Merrill said.
He asked the jury to find his client not guilty of the murder charge and the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 4:06 PM.
