Former Philadelphia police officer sentenced to 8 to 20 years in prison for shooting 12-year-old in the back

A former Philadelphia police officer who shot a 12-year-old two years ago was sentenced on Monday to eight to 20 years in prison for premeditated murder, according to government and court documents.

Prosecutors had asked a judge to sentence Edsaul Mendoza, who shot Thomas “TJ” Siderio in the back on March 1, 2022, to between 20 and 40 years in prison.

That’s partly because Mendoza searched the Internet for airline tickets to the Dominican Republic, where he lives, shortly after the fatal shooting, prosecutor Clarke Beljean said during a press conference.

More than a week later, Beljean said, Mendoza searched the Internet for places that don’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S. and learned that Cuba didn’t. Then he looked for plane tickets there, Beljean said.

Beljean called the shooting a “shocking crime.”

Mendoza, 28, was charged with premeditated murder, manslaughter and possession of a murder weapon.

He agreed to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, which guarantees him a sentence of at least seven and a half years in prison under the guidelines for premeditated murder.

Mendoza pleaded guilty to murder in April.

“This was a fair, just and appropriate verdict in this case,” Beljean said, but added that TJ never went to trial.

“Edsaul Mendoza took advantage of all the benefits of the criminal justice system that he denied TJ Siderio by shooting TJ in the back,” he said.

Evidence presented to the grand jury showed that Mendoza fired three shots at the teen, who in turn fired at an unmarked police vehicle, causing several plainclothes police officers to take cover, prosecutors said.

Two of Mendoza’s three shots were fired after TJ discarded a gun, prosecutors said.

Beljean said the child stopped running and was on his hands and knees when he was shot in the back. Shortly after the shooting, police announced that Mendoza was being fired for violating department use of force policies, including excessive use of force.