HOUSTON – A man has been charged, accused of fatally shooting another man who he believed had his daughter in his car at a Houston gas station on Christmas Day.
Jonathan Mata, 39, is charged with murder in connection to the fatal shooting of Desmond Butler, 24. He is in the Harris County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
The shooting happened on Dec. 25, 2025, at a Shell gas station at 9970 Bellaire Blvd.
The shooting
Court documents allege surveillance video captured a GMC Acadia pull into the gas station at around 1 a.m. on Christmas Day. About two minutes later, a gray Honda Pilot pulled into the gas station, occupied by Butler and a juvenile female.
HPD is searching for two suspects, a Hispanic male and female in a GMC Acadia, wanted in the fatal shooting of a man at 6609 W. Sam Houston Parkway South on Dec. 25.
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) January 7, 2026
Tips: HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600 or @CrimeStopHOU
More info: https://t.co/qrMwfytAmN pic.twitter.com/ebZx3WWMZJ
Video shows a woman get out of the Acadia and begin to chase the Pilot through the parking lot while trying to open the passenger door.
The video then shows the Pilot turn out of the gas station and onto the feeder road of the Sam Houston Tollway.
After the Pilot turned out, the video allegedly depicted Mata getting out of the Acadia and walking toward the car as it turned out of the gas station. He is seen holding a pistol and the video shows two muzzle flashes as he fires at the Pilot.
The documents say Butler was hit twice, once in the head and once in the back. The Pilot then crashed into a light pole.
The documents say the juvenile female who was in the passenger seat of Butler’s car told police Mata drove up next to the crashed car, opened one of the doors, looked inside, and said something to the effect of “Oh we were looking for our kidnapped daughter, I’m sorry, we will call 911″ before driving away. The juvenile then called 911 and reported what happened. Crime Scene Investigators responded and found two 9mm shell casings in the parking lot.
Through tips and research, detectives discovered the man in the video was Mata and the woman was his wife.
Mata’s testimony to police
On Monday, Mata and his wife came to HPD headquarters with their attorney where court documents allege Mata confessed he was the shooter in the video.
According to the court documents, Mata said about 30 minutes before the shooting, he and his wife had received a phone call from their 19-year-old daughter who said she had been assaulted by her boyfriend and needed them to pick her up. Mata and his wife then drove to the gas station where they expected their daughter to be dropped off by her boyfriend.
Mata allegedly told police when Butler drove up to the gas station, he said he looked just like his daughter’s boyfriend and he also saw a juvenile female sitting in the passenger’s seat. That is when his wife began chasing the vehicle and as it pulled out of the parking lot, Mata said he fired two shots to try and stop it.
Mata allegedly told police when he opened the car door to see if his daughter was inside, he learned she was not inside. He also told police he did not realize he had shot Butler and did not call 911 because he was scared.
Butler’s family speaks
Desmond Butler’s family says he’s originally from Georgia but has been living in Houston the past couple of years pursuing a career with Amazon.
His sister spoke with KPRC 2 Reporter Corley Peel by phone.
“He was resilient and he lived life with no regrets. He was always determined in life for the better,” said Desmond’s sister, Destiny Butler.
Destiny said the family still lives in Georgia and got the devastating news about his death on Christmas Day.
“We were all asleep and we got the call in the middle of the night and we were devastated. We couldn’t believe it. My parents, they’re entrepreneurs, so they got up in the night, pitched the first flight out to Houston to go see about their son,” she said.
She says she hopes for justice for her brother.
“You just made an assumption and you moved off the emotions. So with your emotions, you should be charged accordingly,” she said of Mata.
Mata’s attorney speaks
Mata’s attorney, William Van Buren, says Mata’s 19-year-old daughter called her parents, asking to be picked up after her boyfriend assaulted her.
“He agreed to bring the daughter to them, told them to pull over. They did pull over into a gas station. They knew he was right there. He, in fact, was on the phone and said, I’m pulling in. I’m about to pull in. It was at that time that this vehicle pulls into the gas station,” Van Buren said.
He says the wife looked into the car, thinking she saw her daughter in the passenger seat. Van Buren says Butler also resembled the boyfriend.
“Why would he shoot the car if he thought his daughter was in that car?” Peel asked Van Buren.
“As the father of four, I put myself in his shoes. He was not shooting into the car. His attempts were to shoot at the tires. He was trying to disable. If we could go back in time, if he could go back to that moment, if you could harness his emotions at the time, then certainly I think he would have done it a different way, maybe called 911 and hope for the best that they’d find his daughter," Van Buren responded.
Van Buren said Mata’s daughter was later found injured and her boyfriend charged.
He said Mata is remorseful for shooting Butler.