A Philadelphia police officer who was fired after he fatally shot a 12-year-old boy in the back in March has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting, the authorities said Monday.
A spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed that the former officer, Edsaul Mendoza, was arrested on Sunday. At a news conference on Monday, Larry Krasner, the district attorney of Philadelphia, said that Mr. Mendoza had been charged with first-degree murder and other charges. He was being held without bail, Mr. Krasner said.
The boy, Thomas Siderio, was fatally shot on March 1 in the city’s Girard Estates neighborhood, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, which said in March that it had opened an investigation into the shooting.
At a news conference in March, Danielle Outlaw, the Philadelphia police commissioner, said that four plainclothes officers were completing an investigation in South Philadelphia on March 1 when they saw two youths and turned on the emergency lights of their vehicle.
Shortly after, Commissioner Outlaw alleged, Thomas fired a shot through the back window of the police vehicle. Two police officers exited their vehicle and fired two shots toward Thomas, who they said was holding a gun. Thomas began to run down the street, and an officer, whom the authorities later identified as Mr. Mendoza, fired two more shots at Thomas, striking him in the back.
He was later pronounced dead at a hospital, the authorities said.
