According to police reports obtained by 17News, Angelo Mendoza Sr told detectives he was off his medication and was hearing voices when he attacked his 4-year-old son. A court hearing for Angelo Mendoza was delayed for the second time after his attorney told the judge he's still at Kern Medical Center recovering from self-inflicted injuries.
“He's always been normal. This is a shocker that you never expect it from someone you know,” Albert Briseno said.
Briseno lives next door to the apartment building where police say Angelo Mendoza Senior bit an eye out of his son's face. He is one many neighbors and friends who say Mendoza's behavior changed in the weeks before the boy was injured.
“About a week before that something happened back there and he was yelling and screaming at the kid. And I thought, he’s screaming pretty bad at him,” Briseno said.
In a newly-released report, detectives describe the gruesome scene inside the small apartment. Police say they found the boy naked and used a "blanket to wrap Mendoza Jr. up in, as he was violently shaking."
Investigators also say they found a pair of children's pants and underwear wet, "possibly from the victim urinating himself." Detectives found a dresser pulled away from the wall, as if the child tried to hide there.
In the reports, a detective writes about one of his first interviews with Mendoza Senior. He says the father had a message for his son: "Tell him I love him, and that his dad was off his medications.” He continued, “Tell him his dad wasn't taking his pills, and his dad missed his appointments."
A detective also writes about a phone conversation with the boy's mother. According to the report, the mother said she went to visit her son the day the boy was injured. Police say she told the detective while she was in the apartment her son said to her "Mommy, Daddy is scaring me." The boy wanted to leave, but the mother told police she left the child there.
Arthur Gray says he has known Mendoza for about two years.
“It was shocking to me just based on the fact that I looked at Angelo as the perfect dad,” Gray said.
But Gray says in the months leading up to the attack, Mendoza admitted he stopped taking his medications, was hearing voices, and was referred mental health experts. According to court documents, officers say it appeared Mendoza was under the influence of PCP.
“I am not here trying to make excuses or trying to sugar coat anything. You know, what he did was a monstrous act and so many words I can actually say. It seems like something outside of his element climbed inside him and just took over," Gray added.
Doctors say the chances the boy will ever see out of his left eye again are poor.
