A 38-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison in Dallas County after pleading guilty to killing two Chick-fil-A employees during a June 2024 shooting inside a restaurant in Irving, authorities said. Prosecutors said the gunfire erupted while the man’s wife was working at the location and witnessed the attack.
The sentencing closes a case that sparked a large, overnight manhunt and drew renewed attention to workplace violence at public businesses. The defendant, Oved Bernardo Mendoza Argueta, pleaded guilty to one count of murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, officials said. Two people died, a third was injured, and customers and workers fled as shots rang out, according to investigators. Authorities have not publicly given a clear motive, but they said the wife’s presence at work added to the trauma for witnesses and victims’ families.
The shooting happened about 3:50 p.m. on June 26, 2024, at a Chick-fil-A near North MacArthur Boulevard and Walnut Hill Lane in the Las Colinas area of Irving, police said. Investigators said Mendoza Argueta walked into the restaurant and opened fire in the main seating area before moving toward the kitchen. Paramedics pronounced two employees dead at the scene, police said, and another worker was taken for treatment. Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot said the case ended with a guilty plea rather than a trial, and prosecutors described the attack as fast-moving, with people scrambling for safety as the shots were fired.
The two people killed were Ana Patricia Chileno Portillo and Brayan Alexis Godoy Jovel, authorities said. A third employee, Hugo Lopez Flores, was shot and survived, officials said. Prosecutors said Mendoza Argueta’s wife worked at the restaurant and was there when the gunfire began. Police have said she helped investigators identify her husband as the shooter soon after the attack. Authorities have not said how many rounds were fired or whether the shooter spoke to anyone before shooting. They also have not released a detailed description of what led up to the violence, and investigators have said they did not want to speculate publicly on motive.
After the shootings, investigators said Mendoza Argueta fled the restaurant and drove away, triggering a search that stretched into the night. Police issued public warnings that the suspect was armed and dangerous and told residents to avoid approaching him. Officers tracked him down during the early morning hours the next day, authorities said, and he was taken into custody without a shooting during the arrest. Early in the case, he faced a capital murder charge tied to the deaths of more than one person, officials said. Court filings later reflected a shift in how the case was handled as prosecutors pursued an agreement that would end the case with a life sentence.
In court this week, Mendoza Argueta entered his guilty plea and was sentenced by a judge in Dallas County, authorities said. The punishment included a life term for the murder conviction and two 20-year sentences connected to the aggravated assault counts, officials said. Prosecutors said the sentences were ordered to run one after another. The district attorney’s office said the plea ensured accountability and spared families the uncertainty of a trial. During the hearing, one of the victims’ relatives delivered a statement describing the loss, officials said, underscoring the lasting impact on families and co-workers who were inside the restaurant.
The Irving case left lasting marks on the busy commercial corridor around Las Colinas, where restaurants and offices draw steady crowds. Investigators said the violence happened in the middle of a typical workday, when employees were serving customers and co-workers were moving between the kitchen and the dining room. The restaurant later shut down, and public reporting described the location as no longer operating after the attack. Authorities said the case also showed how quickly a targeted shooting can spill into a wider public risk, as police searched through the night for an armed suspect believed to be moving through a large metro area west of Dallas.
Prosecutors said the investigation relied on witness accounts, scene evidence, and the rapid identification of the suspect, including information provided by his wife. Officials have not said whether the couple had recently argued, whether the shooter had been barred from the store, or whether there were warning signs before he arrived. Police have also not released details about the weapon used or whether it was recovered during the arrest. What authorities have emphasized is the speed of the response after the hospital-like chaos of the shooting scene, with officers securing the restaurant, paramedics treating victims, and detectives collecting evidence as the search for the suspect expanded beyond the store.
The guilty plea and sentencing mean the criminal case is effectively resolved, with Mendoza Argueta expected to spend the rest of his life in prison under the life term, officials said. The two aggravated assault convictions and their sentences reflect the additional harm tied to the shooting beyond the murder count, prosecutors said. Authorities have not described any pending related cases, and they have not suggested any other suspects were involved. Officials said the focus now shifts to supporting victims’ families and witnesses who lived through the violence, while court records formalize the final judgment and prison intake process.
Author note: Last updated February 15, 2026.