Two of the four men sought in the deadly beating of a 28-year-old New Yorker outside Pat’s King of Steaks in South Philadelphia are now in police custody and facing murder charges.
Omar Arce, 32, turned himself in and been questioned by detectives in the death of Isidro Cortés last week.
Jose Alberto Flores-Huerta, 33, is also in custody, police announced Monday afternoon.
Both men are charged with murder, attempted murder and other related offenses.
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Police continue to search for two other suspects: Osvaldo "Willie" Pedrazza, residing on the 2600 block of East Norris Street, and Victor Pedrazza, residing on the 1200 block of South Percy Street.
Osvaldo and Victor Pedrazza face the same charges as Arce and Flores-Huerta.
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The men are also accused of injuring Cortés' 64-year-old father and a 20-year-old friend, who were both hospitalized.
Tania Temple, Cortés' cousin, told NBC10 and Telemundo 62 she was "a bit relieved" about Monday's arrest.
“At least two suspects have been arrested," she said. "However, not until the other two are arrested is when I will say that justice has been served.”
Last week, Philadelphia police released video of the attack that led to Cortés' death.
Warning: This video released by Philadelphia police is graphic.
In the video, a group of men — most wearing the jerseys of Mexico's Club América team — can be seen fighting each other. The men violently punch the victims, who fall to the ground. After the victims fall, the men kick them.
Several passersby appear to ask the men to stop, and at one point a man on the ground can be seen reaching up weakly for help or to stop the blows., but he is punched again.
One of the men has the large, red top of a Pat's trash can, with which he hits another man.
Police said the attackers were all Latino men, two with distinct tattoos on their arms or neck. They were wearing Club América jerseys. After the fight, they left the scene in two cars: one, a grayish small four-door car with right rear quarter panel damage and the other a light-colored Ford Explorer SUV, police said.
The group was in town after earlier attending a soccer game between the Philadelphia Union and Club América.
Eduardo Rangel, Cortés' cousin, said they’d gone from the Union’s stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, into Philadelphia to get food before heading back to New York.
Rangel said Cortés, a fellow Club América fan, began talking about soccer with the other group, since they were wearing Club América shirts.
"They were just talking about soccer and we decided to order the food. Meanwhile, he was talking and when we went back, we started eating and I just noticed that they started throwing punches at him. And we tried to defend him, but there were too many. There were like around 12 people,” Rangel said.
Police were called to the scene around 1:56 a.m. When they arrived around 10 minutes later, they found Cortés unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead.
“It’s tragic,” Rangel said.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the remaining suspects is asked to call the Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or dial 911.
