Two minors were arrested after the shooting and death of a Temple University Police Officer. (Photo: Fox 29)
Authorities say that two minors arrested quickly following the shooting and death of a Temple University police officer near the north Philadelphia campus resulted in an arrest just hours later in a neighboring county.
Officer Christopher Fitzgerald, 31, spotted three people dressed in black and wearing masks Saturday night in an area where a series of robberies and carjackings had occurred. He pursued the trio, and after two of them fled, he pursued the third and was fatally shot.
Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, the homicide unit commander, told reporters Tuesday that a patrol supervisor listening in on the police radio rushed to the scene and resulting in the two minors arrested, ages 16 and 17, who later provided information that led to the arrest of 18-year-old Miles Pfeffer the following morning in Bucks County.
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Two minors were arrested after the shooting and death of a Temple University Police Officer. (Photo: Morning Times)
According to Jennifer Griffin, the university’s public safety director, Fitzgerald was the first officer killed in the line of duty at Temple University. He joined the school’s police force in October 2021 as a father of five children.
According to police, video from the scene shows Fitzgerald catching up to Pfeffer and ordering him to the ground, followed by a struggle behind a sport utility vehicle. Pfeffer allegedly pulled a handgun and shot six times, the last three into the officer as he lay on the ground, according to police.
He was arrested on Sunday morning at a sprawling 18th-century farm property in upscale Buckingham, Bucks County, which his mother appears to co-own. According to police, several weapons were recovered, but not the murder weapon.
Pfeffer, who turned 18 last month, attended New Hope Academy, which describes itself as a private school for adolescents with social, emotional, or other problems, or who do not thrive in traditional settings.
Attempts to contact Pfeffer’s family members on Tuesday were futile because the phone numbers associated with them were either not working or were no longer accepting messages.
He faces murder, criminal homicide of a law enforcement officer, disarming an officer, robbery, theft, evading arrest, and weapons charges. He faces robbery, theft, terroristic threatening, and other charges concerning the subsequent carjacking.
Prosecutors stated that no charges had been filed against anyone else and declined to comment on whether such charges would be filed in the future. According to Ransom, if investigators uncover any information about previous robberies and carjackings, prosecutors will be notified.
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