Court documents obtained by NBC10 detail how investigators located and captured the three suspects in the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Richard Mendez.
Yobranny Martínez-Fernández, 18, of Camden, New Jersey, Alexander Batista-Polanco, 21, also of Camden, and Hendrick Peña-Fernández, 21, of Pennsauken, New Jersey, were all arrested in connection to Mendez’s murder.
Martinez-Fernández and Batista-Polanco are both charged with murder, attempt to commit criminal homicide of law enforcement officer, criminal homicide of law enforcement officer, criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, assault of law enforcement officer, robbery, theft-unlawful taking, theft-receiving stolen property, VUFA-no license, VUFA-on streets, use of communication facility, possession of instrument of crime, simple assault, obstruction of justice, recklessly endangering another person and tampering with evidence.
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Peña-Fernández is expected to be charged with the same offenses later on Friday.
The affidavits of probable cause for Martinez-Fernández and Batista-Polanco reveal a more detailed timeline of the deadly shooting and what led to their arrests.
On Thursday, Oct. 12, shortly after 11 p.m., Philadelphia Police officers Richard Mendez and Raul Ortiz – both assigned to the Airport Unit – were parking their personal vehicles in the parking lot at Philadelphia International Airport on 12 Arrivals Road in Philadelphia to begin their shifts.
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Mendez was dressed in his police uniform, minus his duty rig, and was also wearing a holster on his belt at the time. The officers then spotted a man breaking into a Dodge Charger that was parked inside of the parking lot, according to the affidavit. When Officer Ortiz approached the man, a struggle ensued, investigators said.
Officer Ortiz said he heard several gunshots and then spotted Officer Mendez on the ground, suffering from gunshot wounds. Officer Ortiz also noticed that he himself had been shot in the left arm and that Officer Mendez's gun was missing from his holster.
Responding police officers took Officer Mendez to the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 11:34 p.m. that night. Officer Ortiz was taken to Jefferson Hospital and listed in stable condition. He was released from the hospital a few days later.
The responding officers secured a crime scene on the first level of garage D at Philly International Airport. They collected evidence, including blood, a black cellphone, eyeglasses, a black key fob in a Ziploc packet, a punch tool commonly used to break glass and a black Dodge Charger with a broken driver side rear window. All of the evidence was processed by officers in the Crime Scene Unit and the Dodge Charger was towed pending a search warrant.
That same night, at 11:12 p.m., an 18-year-old man, later identified as Jesús Hernán Madera Durán, was dropped off at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Durán was suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso and was dropped off by at least one person inside a black Dodge Durango with tinted windows, investigators said.
Durán was pronounced dead at CHOP at 11:37 p.m. Surveillance video which showed Durán being dropped off at the hospital was later obtained by investigators.
After further investigation, police determined Durán was involved in the initial vehicle break-in at the airport parking garage that Officer Mendez and Officer Ortiz responded to. They also determined that Durán had been shot by his accomplices while they were shooting at the officers.
On Thursday, Oct. 13, shortly before 1:30 a.m., South Brunswick Police officers responded to Commerce Drive in Cranbury, New Jersey, for a reported fire. When they arrived they found an SUV that was fully engulfed in flames. After firefighters put out the flames and investigators checked the vehicle's VIN number, they determined it was the same vehicle that was used by the suspects in Officer Mendez's murder.
Detectives in New Jersey later obtained surveillance video showing a black Dodge Durango following a black Dodge Charger. An unidentified man then exits the Dodge Charger holding a gas can. More men then exit the Dodge Durango and enter the Dodge Charger. One of the men then uses the gas can to ignite the Dodge Durango in flames before entering the Dodge Charger and leaving the scene. Investigators said the Dodge Charger that the suspects fled in was a different vehicle than the Dodge Charger that had been found at the scene of the shooting.
Investigators then analyzed phone records from Durán's cell phone and identified three other phones that had been used at the crime scene when Officer Mendez was shot, the Children’s Hospital when Durán had been dropped off and in New Jersey when the Dodge Durango had been burned. Investigators later determined that those phones belonged to Martínez-Fernández, Batista-Polanco, and Hendrick Peña-Fernández.
Martinez-Fernandez was arrested in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on Oct. 16.
During the early morning hours of Oct. 17, U.S. Marshals took Batista-Polanco into custody in New Jersey and brought him in for processing.
At some point between the night of Oct. 17 and the morning of Oct. 18, Batista-Polanco was then taken to Scranton where he faced unrelated burglary charges.
The District Attorney’s Office then approved murder charges for Batista-Polanco in connection to Officer Mendez’s death. He was then transported to the Philadelphia Police Homicide Division on Wednesday.
On the morning of Oct. 19, Batista-Polanco was arraigned in Philadelphia on murder charges and held without bail. Online court records don't list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
Police also executed a search warrant at Peña-Fernández’s home in Pennsauken on the morning of Oct. 18, but he wasn’t there at the time, according to investigators.
Investigators then learned of Peña-Fernández’s location after speaking with other people in the area, police said. Peña-Fernández was located and taken into custody by New Jersey State Police and homicide investigators.
He is currently in custody in Bellmawr, New Jersey, and will be extradited back to Philadelphia to face murder charges.
Police believe one of the three suspects was responsible for shooting Officer Mendez, Officer Ortiz and Duran. They have not yet revealed which suspect pulled the trigger however.
Police also have not yet recovered Officer Mendez’s missing service weapon, described as a black Glock 9MM semi-automatic handgun.
Finally, while police believe all of the suspects in Officer Mendez's murder are in custody, they are working to determine if anyone helped the suspects or obstructed the investigation, officials said.
