Newtown police arrest man wanted in fatal shooting

A man was arrested for murder in Newtown.

Newtown County and Township police arrested a man wanted for murder in Bensalem Township on Saturday night.

Newtown department officers discovered a Ford pickup truck connected to a Bensalem Township homicide in the 600 block of Newtown-Yardley Road in front of Newtown Cemetery around 5:40 p.m., police said.

According to reports, officers stopped the van and arrested 31-year-old Abel Mendoza-Ramirez.

“The subject was taken into custody safely and without injury,” Newtown Township police said.

Bensalem Township police said Mendoza-Ramirez was wanted for shooting 40-year-old Jose Miguel Tenorio-Ruiz near Building 7 of the Bucks Meadows Apartments on Knights Road.

Bensalem Township Police and EMS performed life-saving measures on Tenorio-Ruiz and he was transported to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

At the scene, it was determined that Mendoza-Ramirez had shot Tenorio-Ruiz and the search began, police said.

Dispatchers transmitted the suspect and vehicle information to surrounding police departments and entered it into a national database, resulting in the wanted man being located in the Newtown area.

According to Bensalem Township authorities: “Police learned that the suspect and the victim had a minor physical altercation shortly before the shooting. After the altercation, Abel Mendoza-Ramirez reportedly went to his vehicle, returned with a semi-automatic pistol in his waistband and approached the victim. The two exchanged words again. Abel Mendoza-Ramirez pulled the gun from his waistband and fired two shots into the ground near the victim. When the victim attempted to take the gun from him, Mendoza-Ramirez fired the gun, striking Tenorio-Ruiz in the upper torso. The shooter got into his Ford van and fled the scene.”

Bensalem Township Police thanked Newtown Police for their help in locating a “dangerous criminal.”

Abel Mendoza-Ramirez was charged with manslaughter, first-degree murder, first-degree murder and possession of a murder weapon. He was preliminarily arraigned by District Judge Joseph Falcone and remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility without bail.