Henry Mendoza, 19, pleaded guilty to the shooting death of Natalie Classen, a Hoboken, New Jersey, native who had recently moved to Reading. The fatal shot occurred early on June 15, 2023, at the intersection of 10th and Greenwich streets, according to authorities.
Mendoza, who was nine days shy of turning eighteen, assaulted Classen and her friends following a verbal disagreement, holding a Taurus 9mm semi-automatic pistol. He fired a shot into Classen’s abdomen. Authorities reported that she died later at Reading Hospital.
During a police inquiry, officers discovered the Taurus 9mm used in the killing at Mendoza’s Greenwich Street home.
Mendoza, while being convicted as an adult, received a lighter minimum term than other first-degree murder convictions in Pennsylvania because adolescents are not automatically condemned to life without parole.
Just days before Classen’s death, a jury recently found Mendoza guilty in another drive-by shooting. On November 20, a jury found him guilty of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and firearms charges linked to the June 11, 2023 incident.
According to investigators, Mendoza was a passenger in a car driven by his co-defendant, Bonef Hassel, when he shot Xavier Rivera, 24, and Jaiden DeJesus, 16, between 13th and Green streets. Both victims received serious yet non-fatal injuries.
Police reported using the same Taurus 9mm in both incidents. Berks County President Judge M. Theresa Johnson will hand out the sentence for the drive-by incident on January 9, 2025.
Assistant District Attorney Daniel P. Troy prosecuted the cases, with Criminal Investigator Steve Valdez of the Reading Police Department conducting the investigation.