Two Camden men were found guilty Monday in the October 2023 shooting that killed Philadelphia police officer Richard Mendez inside an airport parking garage.
Yobrani Martinez-Fernandez, 20, and Hendrick Pena-Fernandez, 23, both were convicted of their roles in the attempted car theft that led to a deadly shootout with police. Mendez, 50, was struck multiple time and killed in the gunfire. His partner, 62-year-old Raul Ortiz, was also injured but survived. One of the men involved in the initial car break-in died after the fleeing suspects dropped him off at a hospital.
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A jury found Martinez-Fernandez, the gunman who shot Mendez, guilty of first-degree murder and related offenses. Pena-Fernandez was found guilty of second-degree murder and other charges. He was found not guilty of first- and third-degree murder. Both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The trial started last Tuesday.
Mendez and Ortiz were reporting for their shifts on Oct. 12 when they heard glass shatter in the airport's Terminal D garage. The officers confronted a group of four people attempting to break into a Dodge Charger. Martinez-Fernandez opened fire, striking Mendez four times in the torso and hitting Ortiz in the arm. Jesus Herman Madera-Duran, 18, was critically injured in the gunfire, prosecutors said.
The suspects fled the scene, stopping at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to drop off Madera-Duran before traveling to Cranberry, New Jersey. The getaway vehicle, which had been stolen about a week earlier in South Philadelphia, was abandoned and set on fire at an empty warehouse.
Martinez-Fernandez, Pena-Fernandez and a third man were arrested several days after the shooting. The third man, 23-year-old Alexander Batista-Polanco, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and cooperated with prosecutors in the case against Martinez-Fernandez and Pena-Fernandez.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said his office relied on forensic evidence that included cell tower data, surveillance footage, recovered DNA and eyewitness interviews.
Mendez was a father of two and a 22-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department.
"Justice was served today," Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel wrote Monday on X after the verdict was read. "My heart remains with the family of Sgt. Richard Mendez, whose memory continues to guide our work."