Local News

North End restaurateur charged with attempted murder arrested for cutting off GPS device, police say

Patrick Mendoza allegedly tried to shoot a man outside Modern Pastry last year. He has been out on bail since early May.

Patrick Mendoza attends a dangerousness hearing in Boston Municipal Court in July 2023. Libby O'Neill/Pool

June 10, 2024

Patrick Mendoza, the North End restaurateur who allegedly tried to shoot and kill a man outside Modern Pastry last year, was arrested Saturday after he cut off a GPS monitoring device, according to a police report.

Mendoza, who co-owns Monica’s Trattoria, pleaded not guilty last year to a variety of charges stemming from the alleged shooting. When he was released on bail in early May, Mendoza was ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device, to stay away from the victim and the place of the shooting, and to submit to weekly drug tests, according to court records.

Boston police officers responded to an address on North Bennett Street on Saturday night at about 10:15 p.m. They recovered Mendoza’s monitoring device, which appeared to have been cut. When asked why he had cut the bracelet, he said, “I’m tired and sick of it,” according to a BPD report.

Mendoza was arrested without incident and taken to the Nashua Street Jail. As he was being booked, he also allegedly said that he was “definitely gonna kill somebody” but that another person had kept him in a bedroom. The other person’s name was redacted from the police report.

Police were told that Mendoza has been “going through it” recently and acting erratically, according to the report. Officers wrote that he was “extremely stressed” about the criminal case pending against him.

The shooting, which was captured on video, shows Mendoza allegedly approaching another man while riding a bike and firing a handgun outside of Modern Pastry on Hanover Street. The target of the shooting can be seen running away, and no one was injured. A bullet hole was left in the pastry shop’s window.

Mendoza allegedly went on the run from police before turning himself in to authorities about a week later in Falmouth.

Mendoza’s brother, Jorge Mendoza-Iturralde, has been an outspoken critic of Mayor Michelle Wu and her policies regarding outdoor dining in the North End. Mendoza-Iturralde said recently that he plans to run against Wu in 2025.