Fistfight outside Bensalem apartment building ends in death. What police say happened

A 31-year-old Bensalem man is facing homicide charges after a fistfight turned deadly outside a Knights Road apartment complex.

Bensalem police allege that Abel Mendoza-Ramirez and 40-year-old Jose Miguel Tenorio-Ruiz were involved in a fistfight around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday outside the Bucks Meadows Apartment where they both lived. The men knew each other, police said.

Mendoza-Ramirez, who police believe lost the fight, then retrieved a semi-automatic handgun from the car. He approached Tenorio-Ruiz and the two men argued, again in the rear parking lot outside Building &, police said.

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Mendoza-Ramirez then pulled the gun from his waistband and fired two rounds into the ground near Tenorio-Ruiz, who then attempted to grab the gun away from Mendoza-Ramirez, police said.

During the struggle the gun fired, striking Tenorio-Ruiz in the torso, fatally wounding him, police said. He was transported to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

After shooting the victim, witnesses told police that Mendoza-Ramirez fled the scene in his vehicle, a Ford van, according to the release.

About an hour later, a Newtown Township police officer stopped the van in the 600 block of Newtown-Yardley Road in front of the Newtown Cemetery, and took Mendoza-Ramirez into custody, police said.

Bensalem Director of Public Safety William McVey credited Newtown Township Police Chief John Hearn with initially spotting the van, whose description and registration had been entered into the National Crime Information Center as a felony vehicle with an armed and dangerous suspect. Hearn then notified his patrol of the location.

Mendoza-Ramirez was arraigned on charges of homicide, first and third degree murder and possessing an instrument of a crime and sent to Bucks County Correctional Center without bail.

According to the U.S. Homeland Security, Mendoza-Ramirez is a Mexican citizen in the United States illegally, McVey said. He was arrested for illegally entering the U.S in 2016, incarcerated briefly then released, McVey said, but he did not know if Mendoza-Ramirez was released in Mexico or the U.S.

Tenorio-Ruiz’s immigration status is under investigation, McVey said.

Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com