Rayford Mejia given 25 years to life for killing police officer in hotel robbery

By Aaron Humes: Rayford Mejia, 23, will spend at least the next 25 years in the Central Prison after being found guilty of the murder of Constable Osborne Martinez.

Martinez was shot and killed while responding to a robbery at the Belcove Hotel on Regent Street West in November of 2018. Co-accused Tyrique Myles and Glen Lopez each accepted a plea bargain to the lesser charge of manslaughter and are awaiting sentencing but Mejia elected to go to trial.

Presiding judge Ricardo O’Neil Sandcroft said the ruling would send a strong message that killing cops would not be tolerated especially when in the line of duty as Martinez was.

In his defense, Mejía said he went with Myles and Lopez to rob, but not to kill anyone. He said he had no idea a gun would have been used until Myles pulled out a gun. It was Myles who fired the fatal shot to the abdomen of P.C. Martinez who died in hospital.

Police had made a quick response to the robbery in progress and PC Osborne Martinez responded whilst on duty in the city. He made attempts to gain access into the hotel through its main front entrance and as he pushed the front door open, he came under fire and was shot once in the abdomen by Myles.

The trio tried to flee through the back exit into the Haulover Creek but all three men were captured and detained by police and later charged jointly with murder.

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