Philadelphia police identify officer, suspect killed in shooting at PHL; more suspects at large
PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia police officer who was killed during a shooting as he arrived for his shift at the Philadelphia International Airport late Thursday night has been identified.
Police say Richard Mendez, 50, was fatally wounded when he and another officer responded to the sound of glass breaking and attempted to intervene in a car break-in inside the parking garage. Police say that intervention turned into a confrontation with a suspect who opened fire on the officers.
Mendez was struck multiple times in the torso. Officer Raul Ortiz was shot in the arm. Both were rushed to nearby hospitals where Mendez was pronounced dead and Ortiz was listed in stable condition.
Philly police identify officer, suspect killed in shooting
A Philadelphia police officer who was killed during a shooting as he arrived for his shift at the Philadelphia International Airport late Thursday night has been identified, as police release surveillance video of suspects in the vehicle taken from the airport.
Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford confirmed in a Friday afternoon press conference that a suspect was also shot during the incident, but fled the scene in a black Dodge Durango before more officers arrived. A short time after the shooting, police believe that same Dodge Durango arrived at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and dropped off the wounded suspect.
Police identify officer killed in shooting at Philadelphia International Airport
Philadelphia police have identified one of their own who was killed in the line of duty late Thursday night during a shooting in a parking garage at the Philadelphia International Airport. A second officer was wounded and a suspect in the shooting is dead.
That suspect was pronounced dead a short time after he was dropped off and has since been identified as 18-year-old Jesus Herman Madera-Duran.
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On Friday, Philadelphia police released surveillance video in connection with the murder of Officer Mendez. In the video, at least one suspect is shown dropping off the 18-year-old shooting victim Madera-Duran, at CHOP. The vehicle is seen pulling into an area with EMTs on site, then a suspect gets out, dragging Madera-Duran out of the stolen vehicle and driving off, leaving EMTs to tend to Madera-Duran.
Richard Mendez
The Durango had a tracking device, an air tag. During the search investigators tapped into the tracking device and police picked the device up off I-95, in the area of Academy.
Police release surveillance video in connection with the murder of Philly officer at PHL Airport
Philadelphia Police Department releases surveillance video showing at least one suspect wanted in connection to the shooting of two Philadelphia Police officers. The video also shows the vehicle that the suspect(s) used to drop off a shooting victim at CHOP.
Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore says police are still trying to identify as many as three additional suspects in the shooting. He also noted that Mendez's gun was not recovered at the scene and is missing.
Around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning, Vanore says police in South Brunswick, New Jersey responded to a vehicle fire. Vanore says the vehicle was confirmed to be the Durango the suspects were operating.
Mendez was three days shy of celebrating 23-years as a member of the force. He is married and has a daughter. He spent most of his career working in the 25th District before he moved to the airport in 2018.
A reward for information in this case has swelled to more than $148,000.