Police say the man thought his daughter was inside the victim’s SUV when he opened fire on Christmas Day.
HOUSTON, TX — A 39-year-old father is charged with murder after police say he fired two shots at an SUV leaving a west Houston gas station on Dec. 25, killing the driver he mistook for his daughter’s boyfriend. The suspect later surrendered with his attorney, according to investigators.
The case centers on a brief, chaotic encounter at a Shell station on Bellaire Boulevard, where surveillance video captured a gray Honda Pilot rolling past pumps as a man stepped forward with a handgun and fired. Prosecutors identified the suspect as Jonathan Mata and the victim as Desmond Butler, 24. Detectives say Mata believed his 19-year-old daughter, who had reported being assaulted, was inside the Honda with her boyfriend. Butler died from gunshot wounds to the head and back, officials said. Mata is being held in the Harris County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
According to charging documents, a GMC Acadia carrying Mata and his wife pulled into the station around 1 a.m. on Dec. 25. About two minutes later, the Honda Pilot arrived with Butler at the wheel and a juvenile female in the passenger seat. Video shows a woman getting out of the Acadia and chasing the Honda through the lot, tugging at the passenger door as the Honda moved toward the exit. The video then shows a man stepping from the Acadia with a pistol and two visible muzzle flashes as the Honda turned onto the Sam Houston Tollway feeder road. The Honda struck a nearby light pole after the shots. Butler’s sister, Destiny Butler, called him “resilient” and said the family flew in from Georgia after learning of his death on Christmas Day.
Investigators say the teen in Butler’s passenger seat told officers that Mata drove up to the crashed SUV, opened a door, and said something like, “We were looking for our kidnapped daughter, I’m sorry, we will call 911,” before leaving the scene. Crime scene technicians recovered two 9 mm casings from the lot. On Jan. 7, Houston police released images from the surveillance video and asked for the public’s help identifying the couple. Detectives later identified Mata and his wife as the people in the footage. On Monday, the pair arrived at police headquarters with an attorney, and detectives say Mata admitted he was the shooter. It was not immediately clear whether the firearm used has been recovered.
Mata’s attorney, William Van Buren, said the couple had been on the phone with their daughter and expected her to be dropped at the station by her boyfriend minutes before the shooting. Van Buren said Butler resembled the boyfriend and that Mata believed he saw his daughter in the Honda’s passenger seat. He said Mata “was trying to disable” the vehicle by shooting at the tires and expressed remorse. Police have said Butler was unarmed. Authorities also said the daughter was later found injured and that her boyfriend faces charges related to an alleged assault; officials did not immediately release the boyfriend’s name or the status of that case. The relationship, if any, between Butler and the juvenile passenger has not been detailed by police.
The Christmas shooting unfolded in Houston’s Chinatown corridor along Bellaire, a busy commercial strip where late-night traffic flows between restaurants, markets and 24-hour fuel stops. Homicides in the city fell last year, but police say quick-moving encounters around vehicles and parking lots remain a persistent challenge. In recent months, investigators have highlighted several mistaken-identity or vehicle-related shootings in the wider Houston area, incidents that often begin with an argument or a hurried misperception around a car door. Neighbors near the Shell said the light pole Butler struck has since been replaced and that police were back at the station this week to retrieve additional footage from nearby businesses.
Prosecutors charged Mata with murder in Harris County, alleging he knowingly caused Butler’s death by firing into the moving SUV. Court records show he is being held on a $50,000 bond. An initial court appearance is expected in a Harris County district court; a specific setting was not immediately available Tuesday. Detectives said they are still reviewing video, canvassing for witnesses and tracing the firearm. Houston police also asked anyone with information from the tollway frontage road around 1 a.m. Dec. 25 to contact investigators. No additional arrests in the shooting have been announced.
Outside the family’s Houston lodging, Destiny Butler said her brother had moved from Georgia to Texas to build a career with Amazon. “He lived life with no regrets,” she said, calling for accountability in the case. At the station earlier this week, customers stepped around fresh paint near the replaced pole as traffic pulsed along the feeder. A clerk said officers had visited multiple times since the holiday. Van Buren said Mata is “a father of four” who wishes he had handled the moment differently. “If we could go back in time,” the attorney said, “he would have made a different choice.”
As of Tuesday night, Mata remained jailed in Harris County and the investigation continued. Police said updates on the case will be released after additional interviews and evidence reviews this week.
Author note: Last updated January 15, 2026.