Jonathan Mata has been charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Desmond Butler, an innocent victim who was killed in the early morning hours of Christmas Day 2025.According to court records, Mata was formally charged with Murder on January 13, 2026, in Cause #1947960, filed in the 496th District Court. His bond was set at $50,000. Mata was booked into the Harris County Jail on January 14, 2026.
Investigators say the shooting occurred around 12:30 AM on December 25, 2025, at a Shell gas station located at 9970 Bellaire Boulevard.
On January 12, 2026, Mata provided a statement to HPD Homicide Detectives with his attorney present. Mata told detectives that he and his wife received a phone call from their 19-year-old daughter, who claimed she had been assaulted by her boyfriend and asked them to come get her. The couple drove to the Shell gas station believing their daughter would be dropped off there.
At approximately the same time, Desmond Butler arrived at the gas station driving his vehicle with a female passenger in the front seat. Mata’s wife reportedly believed their daughter was inside Butler’s vehicle and began chasing it on foot as it left the parking lot and traveled northbound on the West Sam Houston Parkway feeder road.
Authorities say Jonathan Mata then fired two rounds from a pistol toward the moving vehicle. One bullet struck Butler in the head, and another struck him in the back. Butler lost control of the vehicle and crashed in a nearby parking lot.
Mata and his wife followed the vehicle, opened the door, and realized their daughter was not inside.
In his statement, Mata told detectives that he panicked, drove home, and did not call 911 because he was scared. Investigators confirmed there was no connection whatsoever between Jonathan Mata and Desmond Butler.
Later, the couple’s daughter contacted police regarding her alleged assault. Her boyfriend was subsequently arrested on assault charges, a case entirely separate from the shooting.
Desmond Butler died from his injuries later that morning.
This innocent victim was caught in a tragic and irreversible chain of events—at the wrong place, at the wrong time.
