Community members gather in front of the Brazoria County Courthouse for a protest following the deputy-involved shooting that killed Texas State University student John Gabriel Mendoza Jr. in Angleton, Friday, June 5, 2026. Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle

Brazoria County hired a Houston attorney as legal counsel in a dispute over the deputy-involved shooting that killed a Texas State University student in Lake Jackson earlier this month.

Norman Giles, a civil rights and police defense litigation attorney for the nationwide law firm Lewis Brisbois, told the Chronicle he will represent Brazoria County as it grapples with the fallout of the shooting. A Brazoria County sheriff's deputy shot and killed 18-year-old John Mendoza Jr. in his father's garage after a failed traffic stop turned into a slow pursuit in the early morning hours of June 1.

Another Houston attorney, Charles Adams, represents Mendoza Jr.'s family. He said Mendoza Jr. and his three friends were unarmed and had their hands up at the time of the shooting. The sheriff's office has not said what prompted the traffic stop, but Adams said the young men were hanging out, playing basketball and walking a park track before the deputy began trailing them.


Brazoria County Sheriff Bo Stallman has since fired former Deputy Kevin Tippit, and the Texas Rangers opened an investigation into the shooting with the Brazoria County District Attorney's Office. Neither office has released its findings, and Tippit has not been formally charged with any wrongdoing.

THE FINAL MOMENTS: Surveillance video shows moments before Brazoria County deputy fatally shoots Texas State student

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Brazoria County District Attorney Tom Selleck said Giles' services were provided through the county's participation in a governmental risk pool, which the county has been part of for years.

Giles represents government entities and public officials in civil cases, and his c

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