A father in Texas was arrested after he allegedly shot and killed an Amazon employee that he believed was his daughter’s boyfriend.
The Houston Police Department announced in a news release that Jonathan Ross Mata has been accused of fatally shooting the Amazon worker, who has since been identified as 25-year-old Desmond Butler.
Around 1 a.m. on December 25, 2025, Butler drove his gray Honda Pilot into a gas station parking lot. Butler passed Mata’s black GMC Acadia, which was parked at one of the pumps, as he pulled into the lot.
When Butler drove past the GMC, Mata’s wife got out of her husband’s car and started chasing the Honda. The news release stated that she then attempted to open the vehicle’s back passenger door because she believed that the female passenger in the car was their daughter.
As Mata’s wife tried to get into Butler’s car, Mata, 39, got out of his own vehicle and fired his gun at the victim’s car as it pulled out of the parking lot.
The police department also released surveillance video, which showed the incident taking place in the parking lot.
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As Butler attempted to drive away, he was hit by gunfire and crashed his vehicle into a pole in an adjacent parking lot. Mata and his wife then got back into the GMC and drove away, according to police.
Butler was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Houston Police launched an investigation into the matter and determined that Mata and his wife had received a phone call from their daughter, in which she claimed she was assaulted by her boyfriend. The parents then drove to the gas station, where they expected their daughter to have been dropped off. After the couple spotted a female passenger in Butler’s car, they quickly assumed that it was their daughter.
The police department confirmed that Mata and Butler did not know each other.
Nearly three weeks after the incident took place, Mata turned himself in on Wednesday, January 14, “without incident,” according to the release. He was booked into the Harris County Jail and has since been released on a $50,000 bond.
Mata is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, February 25.
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The woman in Butler’s car told police that the shooter drove up to the Honda after the crash and looked inside the vehicle, according to court documents viewed by KHOU. She claimed that the shooter said he was looking for his “kidnapped” daughter and apologized before he said he would call 911. However, the court documents stated that the 911 call was never made.
Mata, his wife and their attorney went to Houston Police headquarters three weeks after the incident so that he could confess. According to the report, Mata told investigators that he fired two shots to stop the Honda. He said he didn’t realize he hit Butler, as well as admitted to not calling 911 because he was “scared.”
Butler’s family confirmed he moved to Houston in 2023 to work for Amazon as a manager. While speaking to KHOU, they added that they were “devastated” by his killing. “We just want answers on why him. My brother was a light of joy,” his sister, Destiny, said.
