PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Investigators have found another car they believe has a connection with the Philadelphia International Airport parking garage shooting that killed Philadelphia police officer Richard Mendez and injured his partner Raul Ortiz.
Authorities tell KYW broadcast partner NBC10 that the black Dodge Charger was located on L Street in Kensington. Police towed it away as part of the ongoing investigation.
Police are still searching for the shooting suspects.
Ortiz, 60, was released from the hospital on Saturday. A line of fellow officers saluted and applauded as he was wheeled out of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to a waiting SUV.
The 20-year veteran of the force was shot in the arm when he and Mendez confronted several people breaking into a vehicle in an airport parking garage at about 11 p.m. Thursday. Mendez, 50, who had been on the force for more than two decades, was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Authorities said the suspects fled in an SUV reported stolen a week ago that was later seen at a hospital dropping off 18-year-old Jesus Herman Madera Duran, who authorities say was believed to be involved in the confrontation with the officers. Duran had been shot in the chest, abdomen and left arm and was pronounced dead around 11:30 p.m. Thursday.
It wasn’t clear if any other suspects were wounded in the shooting, authorities said, or how many of them had fired weapons. Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford noted that the shooting came only a week after three officers were shot and wounded while responding to a call and called the new shooting “a numb, numb moment for us.”
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The slain officer's gun has not been located, and it wasn't immediately known whether anyone fired it, Stanford said. Police released video showing “at least one suspect” as well as the vehicle used to drop off Madera Duran at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
A reward for information leading to an arrest has increased to $225,000, as the $30,000 posted by two local police unions was supplemented by money from other police groups, businesses and Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents. That's in addition to $20,000 offered by the city for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
President Joe Biden, who was in Philadelphia on Friday, offered his condolences to the families of the officers. "They put their lives on the line to protect this community,” the president said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.