Nov 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 11

AROUND THE COUNTRY
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Philly Police Officer Richard Mendez was shot and killed in a parking
garage at the Philadelphia International Airport.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Officials
have identified the two officers
who were shot in a parking garage
at the Philadelphia International
Airport on Thursday night,
one of them fatally.
Officer Richard Mendez, 50,
was pronounced dead at the
hospital shortly after he was
shot multiple times in the upper
body.
Mendez was married and had
a daughter. He had been on the
force for nearly 22 years.
The other officer, identified as
Raul Ortiz, 60, was shot in the
arm and is currently hospitalized
in stable condition.
Ortiz is also married and has
three children. Police say Ortiz
has 20 years on the force.
The shooting happened just
after 11 p.m. Thursday as the two
officers, who were assigned to
the airport unit, were coming
into work at parking garage D.
Interim Police Commissioner
John Stanford said the officers
saw several people breaking into
a vehicle in the parking garage
area.
As the officers approached,
“the suspects opened fire,” hitting
Mendez several times in the
upper body and Ortiz in the arm,
Stanford said.
28 The BLUES
OFFICER BRIAN HOLLEY
OFFICER RICHARD MENDEZ
“Oh my God, we got an officer
down, officer down first level,”
a voice can be heard on a police
radio call.
Police say the suspects fled in
a stolen black Dodge Durango
after the shooting, and police say
that same vehicle dropped off an
18-year-old man with gunshot
wounds at Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia at 11:29 p.m.
That 18-year-old has been
identified as Jesus Herman
Madera-Duran of Camden, New
Jersey. He had gunshot wounds
to the chest, abdomen, and left
arm, police say. He was pronounced
dead at 11:37 p.m.
Police believe he was shot
in the same incident that left
Ofc. Mendez dead and Ofc. Ortiz
wounded.
Authorities released surveillance
video showing one of the
suspects dropping off Madera-Duran’s
body at CHOP.
Police say the Durango was
later found torched in South
Brunswick in northern New Jersey
around 1:30 a.m. Friday.
The Durango will be processed
by members of the ATF, FBI and
the Philadelphia Police Crime
Scene Unit for evidence.
Police have since learned the
Durango had been reported stolen
in Philadelphia about a week
ago.
Officials said Friday afternoon
that Ofc. Mendez’s gun is missing.
It’s not yet known if anyone
fired the weapon during the confrontation.
It wasn’t clear if any other
suspects were wounded in the
shooting, authorities said, or how
many of them had fired weapons.
“It’s devastating to this city to
know that this is the type of behavior
that’s occurring, the type
of individuals that are out there
on the street to take someone’s
life over a vehicle,” Stanford
said.