Two Camden men were convicted of murder and related crimes Monday in the shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Richard Mendez at the airport in 2023. <\/p>\n
Yobranny Martinez-Fernandez, 20, who fired the fatal shots, was found guilty of first-degree murder. Hendrick Pena-Fernandez, 23, was convicted of second-degree murder because he took part in the car theft that gave rise to the fatal shooting.<\/p>\n
About an hour after the jury returned its verdict, both men were sentenced to life in prison without parole. <\/p>\n
Mendez, 50, was killed after he and his partner, Raul Ortiz, tried stop a car theft in progress in garage D at the Philadelphia International Airport<\/a>. As they approached a Dodge Charger, Martinez-Fernandez opened fire as he crouched beneath the steering wheel, prosecutors said. Mendez was struck four times in the torso. Ortiz was struck once in the arm and survived his injuries.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said Martinez-Fernandez also unintentionally shot one of his accomplices, Jesus Madera Duran, 18, who later died at a nearby hospital. The men dropped him there during a frantic escape that eventually led them to a central New Jersey warehouse where prosecutors said they burned their getaway vehicle. <\/p>\n Martinez-Fernandez was also found guilty of killing Duran, in addition to nearly all related charges. Meanwhile, Pena-Fernandez was found not guilty for a handful of other offenses, including third-degree murder. <\/p>\n Throughout the nearly a week of testimony<\/a>, prosecutors argued that both men were responsible the death of Mendez, a father of two and a 22-year veteran of the police force.<\/p>\n For Mendez\u2019s widow, Alex Carrero, and the couple\u2019s daughter, Mia, the verdict capped what they described as a two-year nightmare. <\/p>\n \u201cNo 19-year-old should have to pick the color of her dad\u2019s casket\u201d Mia Carrero said as she addressed the judge before her father\u2019s killers were sentenced. She wore Mendez\u2019s police badge pinned to her sweater. <\/p>\n Later, she appeared outside the courthouse with her mother alongside District Attorney Larry Krasner<\/a>, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel<\/a>, and other high-ranking officials. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was the love of my life, my soulmate,\u201d Alex Carrero said, breaking into tears. \u201cI have to live the rest of my life without him.\u201d <\/p>\n Bethel thanked prosecutors and the jury, and told Mendez\u2019s family their pain was \u201cjust a chapter, but it may never go away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe gave his life for the safety of this city,\u201d Bethel said of Mendez. \u201cWe will continue to carry that charge forward.\u201d <\/p>\n Krasner said the sentences reflected the gravity of \u201ca truly horrific crime.\u201d He commended prosecutors for weathering a prolonged jury deliberation \u2014 one that lasted four days as two jurors were dismissed; one for a medical emergency and another for reasons that were not publicly disclosed. <\/p>\n Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope\u2019s case included cell tower data, surveillance footage, recovered DNA, and witnesses, including an accomplice to the crime who testified and implicated the two men. Taken together, Pope said, the evidence was compelling and linked the two men to the crime and its multi-state scene. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is something that truly never had to happen,\u201d Pope said before sentencing. Instead of pulling the trigger, she said, Martinez-Fernandez could have surrendered to Mendez and faced far more lenient consequences. <\/p>\n When asked if he would like to speak before the ruling, Martinez-Fernandez declined. Pena-Fernandez, barely audible, said: \u201cI wish the best for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Defense attorneys maintained that Pope did not prove that their clients were at the scene of the shooting. And they told jurors they should not trust prosecutors\u2019 star witness<\/a>, a man who joined in the airport theft and who pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony. <\/p>\n Robert Gamburg, Pena-Fernandez\u2019s attorney, said he planned to appeal the verdict. <\/p>\n \u201cOf course we\u2019re disappointed with the verdict,\u201d Gamburg told reporters. \u201cHowever, there are substantial issues which will be raised eventually on appeal.\u201d <\/p>\n The trial took place amid an emotional atmosphere in the courtroom as dozens of police officers and department brass gathered to watch the proceedings<\/a>, some offering comfort to the Carreros, who wept through the proceedings. <\/p>\n They sat through the presentation of evidence that included life-size mannequins of Mendez, Ortiz, and the injured accomplice, Jesus Herman Madera Duran, all with markings noting where prosecutors said 9mm bullets tore through their bodies. <\/p>\n Prosecutors recreated the crime scene by playing video taken by drone cameras that depicted the maze of vehicles in the concrete parking area where the shooting place. They also offered testimony from two witnesses \u2014 weary travelers who were making their way to their cars \u2014 to recount the burst of gunfire, followed by the sound of squealing tires as the men peeled out of the garage, knocking down the security gate in the process. <\/p>\n Prosecutors also played an audio recording of Ortiz screaming into his radio, \u201cOfficer down!\u201d and saying that he, too, had been struck and could no longer feel his arm. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m gonna faint,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m losing feeling.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThey shot Rich,\u201d he repeated throughout the call, his voice wavering in disbelief. <\/p>\n At the time, Mendez was the third Philadelphia officer to be killed in the line of duty since 2015. A fourth, Officer Jaime Roman, was shot in the neck during a traffic stop in 2024<\/a>. <\/p>\n Martinez-Fernandez and Pena-Fernandez declined to testify when asked by Common Pleas Court Judge Giovanni O. Campbell whether they would like to do so. And the defense presented no witnesses of testimony.<\/p>\n But on cross-examination of witnesses called by prosecutors, their attorneys, Gamburg and Earl G. Kauffman, made clear that those who testified had heard \u2014 but not seen \u2014the crime. <\/p>\n And Gamburg argued that his client was improperly charged with second-degree murder, a crime committed during the commission of another felony. In this case, he said, the attempted car theft was not a forceful or violent crime and should not have given rise to the more serious charge.<\/p>\n Gamburg told the jury Pena-Fernandez did not go out that night with the intent to kill a police officer, did not fire a weapon and had not known that Martinez-Fernandez was carrying a gun.<\/p>\n