A father in Houston, Texas, allegedly shot and killed an Amazon manager he mistakenly believed was kidnapping his daughter.
KHOU reported that the incident occurred at around 1:00 a.m. Christmas Day, but the father did not turn himself in until three weeks later.
The situation unfolded at a Houston gas station, when a Honda SUV passed the father’s GMC at the pump. A woman exited the GMC and chased the SUV, which appeared to accelerate into the road and speed away. Subsequently, the father stepped toward the road and allegedly raised a pistol and fired at the fleeing vehicle.
The SUV driver, 25-year-old Desmond Butler, was hit by one of the father’s rounds and crashed into a nearby pole. He died later at the hospital.
In a January 14, 2026, update, the Houston Police Department identified the father as 39-year-old Jonathan Ross Mata.
Houston PD noted:
Further investigation determined the suspect, identified as Mata, and his wife received a phone call from their daughter stating she was assaulted by her boyfriend. They drove to the location expecting their daughter to be dropped off. They believed the victim’s female passenger in the vehicle was their daughter.
Mata has now been charged with murder.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.