On April 18, 2026, at about noon, 24-year-old Nathaniel Carl Mendez-Ma was fatally shot while sitting in the driver’s seat of his vehicle in the parking lot of an apartment complex at 6060 Gulfton Street in Houston. Officers who responded to the shooting found Mendez-Ma unresponsive with at least one gunshot wound; Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced him deceased at the scene. Investigators reported he had been parked near the rear of the complex when at least one person approached and shot him.

Police identified a suspect and on April 24, 2026 arrested 30-year-old Gabreal Dechassa Geleta; Geleta was charged with murder and booked into the Harris County Jail. Family and friends held a visitation and celebration of life on May 1, 2026 in Pearland, followed by a funeral service and committal at a local cemetery.

If anyone saw activity in the parking lot at 6060 Gulfton Street around midday on April 18 or has information about what happened, please share what is known.