Arrest made in fatal police shooting at Philadelphia Airport garage

• He's expected to be extradited to Philadelphia to face murder charges.

Catch up quick: Mendez and his partner Raul Ortiz, both of whom were on the force for more than two decades, had just arrived for the start of their shifts late Thursday at the Terminal D parking lot when they saw a group of people attempting to steal a car, per the Inquirer.

• After confronting the group, Mendez, 50, was shot several times in the torso and died. Ortiz was injured. He's recovering after being released from the hospital over the weekend.
• Police said the suspects fled in a stolen Dodge Durango before dropping off 18-year-old Jesus Herman Madera Duran, who was killed during the confrontation, at the hospital. They later ditched the vehicle on the side of a road in South Brunswick, New Jersey.
• Police found a second vehicle, a black Dodge Charger, abandoned in Kensington that they also believe was connected to the shooting, per 6ABC.

The latest: Police believe Duran had at least three accomplices. They're investigating whether any were tied to organized car theft rings.

• Mendez's firearm was stolen and is still missing, Vanore said.

The big picture: Nearly twice as many police officers have been shot in Philadelphia in 2023 than all of last year — part of a larger national spike in officers being shot in the line of duty.

• Nine police officers have been shot, two of them fatally, in Philadelphia so far this year, including slain Temple cop Christopher Fitzgerald.
• A 10th officer was injured by friendly fire in May while responding to a neighborhood disturbance in Kensington that led to the police killing of Dimitri Klimov, per the Inquirer.

Reality check: That's three times higher than the number of officers shot in 2020, per police data provided to Axios.

• Philadelphia averaged five police officers shot between 2019 and 2022.

Zoom out: As of Oct. 3, 290 law enforcement officers have been shot – more than three dozen of them fatally – in the line of duty across the U.S., up 21% from from the same point in 2021, per the Fraternal Order of Police.

What they're saying: Philadelphia Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, a friend of Mendez, described the fallen officer as an "upstanding" father, husband and a problem solver whose trademark phrase was, "We'll figure it out together."

• He had received a master's degree and planned to become a college professor when he retired, Lozada said.

Criminology experts cite more anti-police sentiments following the killing of George Floyd and what some perceive as "soft on crime" stances of progressive prosecutors, as potential reasons for the increase.

• When officers are "on edge," it can increase the chances they'll resort to using lethal force quicker out of fear, Brian Higgins, a former New Jersey police chief and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, tells Axios.

Many assailants who shot police were looking to escape arrest or had hatred of officers, CNN reported, citing a 2016 report that examined 50 shootings of police officers.

• "One thing that tends to be a constant in many of these shootings — the suspects are no stranger to law enforcement," says Darren White, a former Bernalillo County sheriff in New Mexico.

The bottom line: Police are offering a $237,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of the remaining suspects.