• Police: Stray bullet ended life of young father in Stockton

  • STOCKTON - His name was Jesus.
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  • STOCKTON - His name was Jesus.
    He lived to serve God, his wife and his young daughter. Little Jana is only 20 months old, but she is already wondering why her father hasn't come home.
    "She keeps asking, ... 'Where's papa?' " Olga Mendoza, the victim's wife, said through a translator.
    Jesus Villegas Mendoza was a 23-year-old Tokay High School graduate. He was a husband, a father and a minister who was being groomed to become a pastor at his church until a stray bullet entered his head and ended his life Tuesday evening in east Stockton.
    "He was a good man," Olga Mendoza said.
    Jesus Mendoza was on his way home from work at a Trader Joe's warehouse when he was shot about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, his family said. Witnesses reported hearing three to four gunshots, one which went through his windshield and struck him in the head as he was driving east on East Main Street near Sharon Avenue.
    "So far, this investigation is revealing that our victim was driving a vehicle down Main Street when he was hit by a stray bullet," said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department. "It doesn't appear he was the intended target. At this time, we don't have any suspect information, so we are encouraging the community to call police if they have any information."
    Jesus Mendoza lived in Lodi as a boy and later moved to Stockton. He met Olga Mendoza in church and married her when he was 18. In 2012, he became a father.
    Loved ones described Jesus Mendoza as a loving, caring, peaceful man who didn't use drugs and was not involved in gang activity.
    "He was a very smart boy when he was growing up. He had really good grades," said Lisandra Mendoza, 26, one of the victim's two sisters. "He was always happy. He was always smiling. He was very trustworthy and he always tried to look at the best in everybody he met. He's always been a really good person. He would just come home from work and go to church."
    Relatives said Jesus Mendoza was a minister at Centro Apostolico Vida Nueva, a church on East Main Street, just a little more than a mile from the scene of the shooting.
    "He was a good Christian guy," said Ruby Mendoza, 24, the victim's youngest sister. "He didn't drink. He didn't smoke. He was a good brother, a good husband, a good father and a good friend. I can't believe this happened to him.
    "I ask myself, 'Why? Why did this happen?' I'm mad. I'm sad. I have a lot of anger and I want to know who did that to him, but only God knows."
    Olga Mendoza expressed sadness and disbelief, saying her heart breaks for a little girl who will grow up without her father.
    "I'm going to tell her that, every day, her dad told her he loved her," she said, "and everything he did, it was for her."
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