PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The two men accused of killing Philadelphia Police Sgt. Richard Mendez are set to begin their trial on Wednesday.
Yobranny Martinez-Fernandez and Hendrick Peña-Fernandez face second-degree murder and robbery charges for what prosecutors say was their role in an October 2023 incident at Philadelphia International Airport.
If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Authorities say Mendez and his partner, Raul Ortiz, responded to the sound of glass breaking in the garage at Terminal D, where they found four men breaking into a car. They say the suspects pulled guns and fired on the pair, killing Mendez and wounding Ortiz without either officer firing their weapons. The quartet then fled in a stolen Dodge Durango.
One suspect, 18-year-old Jesús Herman Madera Durán, was dropped off at CHOP that night with gunshot wounds to the chest, arm and torso, where he died the next day.
The car was found early the next morning in South Brunswick, New Jersey, in flames.
Martinez-Fernandez, Peña-Fernandez and a third man, Alexander Batista-Polanco, were arrested later that week. Investigators said they matched cellphone and social media evidence to the men.
Batista-Polanco pleaded guilty to third-degree murder last week.
Days after the shooting, a Dodge Charger that police connected to the group was found in Kensington.
Police now say they were linked to an interstate car theft ring that would steal high-value cars like Durangos, Chargers and Jeep Grand Cherokees, which they would resell in Camden County.
Thirteen people were arrested in connection with that investigation in September, including the two defendants and Batista-Polanco.
The murder trial is expected to last through next week.