In late November, Miles Pfeffer posted a warning on his Instagram page.

“Work smart not hard make stupid decisions face stupid consequences,” Pfeffer wrote, beneath the photo of a male, his face obscured by fanned-out $20 bills, with what appeared to be a Ruger pistol tucked in his waistband.

According to Philadelphia police, Pfeffer failed to follow his own advice.

Early Sunday morning, federal and local law enforcement officials descended on Pfeffer’s mother’s home in Buckingham Township, Bucks County and charged the 18-year-old with murdering Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald the night before.

Authorities say Pfeffer shot the 31-year-old officer in the head near 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue just after 7:12 p.m. Saturday — then tried to steal his gun and went through his pockets as Fitzgerald was laying on the ground. The incident was captured on video.

» READ MORE: A Bucks County teen is charged with the murder of a Temple University police officer and father of four

—William Bender, Jeremy Roebuck, and Barbara Laker

—Barbara Laker

On Sunday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro ordered all United States and Commonwealth flags public buildings and grounds to be flown at half staff in honor of slain Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald.

”The flags shall be lowered to half-staff until sunset on the date of interment, which has not yet been announced,” the governor’s press office announced.

All state residents are invited to take part in the ritual honoring Fitzgerald.

—Jake Blumgart

At a sidewalk memorial for Temple police officer Christopher Fitzgerald, killed on duty Saturday night, his family tried to understand how this tragedy had occurred.

Shajia Johnson said it surpassed understanding why someone would drive into the city to cause pain and suffering.

”You’re not from our community,” said Johnson, 25, Fitzgerald’s cousin. “You’re an outsider and you came in and devastated our whole community and our whole world and our whole family.”

But Johnson said that she was heartened to the see the outpouring of grief and support for Fitzgerald’s family.

”It represents the impact that he had,” Johnson, who worked at Temple as well.

“All our colleagues loved him. No one had anything bad to say about Christopher. He was loved. And it shows.”

Asked if they had any message for Temple University, Johnson and Fitzgerald’s cousin Juan Marrero Jr. simply said that they wanted all the officers to be safe. Fitzgerald is the first member of the university’s security forces to be killed in the line of duty, and Johnson and Marrero said they hope he will be the last.

—Jake Blumgart

The Temple University Police Association launched a GoFundMe page for Christopher Fitzgerald, who was killed on duty Saturday night.

The goal is to raise $100,000, and the effort was well on its way by Sunday afternoon.

“Officer Fitzgerald was a loving husband, father, friend, and public servant whose dedication to his family and community was unmatched,” the page, set up by Rossman Shaffer, secretary of Temple University Police Association, reads. “Officer Fitzgerald loved being a police officer, and he will always be remembered for his fearlessness in fighting crime and his compassion for his community.”

The money raised will go to support Fitzgerald’s family. The police association stressed that this is the only fundraiser at this time.

—Jake Blumgart

On Sunday afternoon, relatives of slain Temple police officer Christopher Fitzgerald gathered at a makeshift memorial site at Bouvier Street and Montgomery Avenue.

Down the block from where Fitzgerald was murdered less than 24 hours ago, his cousin Juan Marrero Jr. reflected on the life of the man he saw as a big brother.

”He wore that badge like he was a superhero, he protected everybody here,” said Marrero, 23. “That’s what he loved to do. So he died doing what he loved to do.”

Marrero said that Fitzgerald’s parents both work in law enforcement; Christopher father Joel Fitzgerald, spent 17 years with the Philadelphia Police Department before moving on to other high profile positions, including Allentown where Christopher corrections officer when he was 19. But after a professional stint in Texas, Fitzgerald returned to the city where he was born and raised.

”He came back down here to the city, Philly, this is everything he cared about,” said Marrero. “Law enforcement was in his blood.”

Marrero said when he first heard his cousin had been shot, he held out hope for his recovery. He remembers when Fitzgerald broke his back and the doctors said he should have been paralyzed. Maybe their family would be blessed with a miracle again.

”I was praying that he was going to pull through, because all of us know that Chris is strong,” said Marrero. “We looked at him like a superhero because only superheroes do things that he’s done.”

Marrero and his cousin were tight, and kept in close contact. He lived close enough to Temple’s campus that Fitzgerald would swing by after work to check in.

”I will miss him coming up to my house in his Temple [uniform], shining a light through our window,” said Marrero. “I will miss seeing that. I’m going to miss the phone calls with him.”

—Jake Blumgart

Temple University officer Jeff McKee started work for the university in October 2021, around the same time as Chris Fitzgerald.

They were partners. And they knew the risks they took every day, working in an increasingly violent area of the city, McKee said.

”But losing my partner, I personally don’t know if it’s every going to be the same or if I can even continue to do the job,” said McKee, 33.

Fitzgerald’s nickname was “Fitz,” McKee said. An avid runner and Philadelphia 76ers fan, he was a family man who was born in the city and continued to advocate to make it safer, McKee said. Fitgerald was involved in a program, called Hood 2 Hood, where participants ran through violent areas of the city to raise awareness about gun violence.

He previously worked for the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the sheriff’s department before coming to Temple, McKee said.

A GoFundMe has been started at the request of Fitzgerald’s family. It already has brought in nearly $22,000 by 3:30 p.m.

”Chris is truly a hero,” said Alec Shaffer, president of the Temple University Police Association, the union. “And he gave the ultimate sacrifice.”

Schaffer said the union for more than a year has been sounding the alarm about the exodus of officers and the need for the university to do a better job hiring and retaining officers.

The department, which he said has about 60 patrol officers, has lost a handful of officers in the last month.

”They need to prioritize public safety and our police department,” Shaffer said. “We can no longer do PR releases and PR stunts and pictures. We actually need to act and retain these officers, show officers that they have support.

”The university needs to value us, and they haven’t done that, which leads to this mass exodus of police officers during this time of increasingly violent crime.”

He said the university needs to provide better benefits, comparable to other police departments and boost morale, which has been at an all-time low, he said.

—Susan Snyder

Miles Pfeffer, the 18-year-old Bucks County man alleged to have fatally shot Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald, tried to rob the officer of his gun and went through his pockets while he was on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. It’s unclear what initially led to the encounter.

Pfeffer is facing charges that include murder, murder of a law enforcement official, robbery and carjacking.

The DA’s office said Pfeffer was involved in an armed carjacking after allegedly shooting Fitzgerald — and that Fitzgerald was not shot while trying to stop a carjacking, as police initially believed Saturday night.

“We join law enforcement and people across the region in expressing our heartbreak and outrage over this horrific crime,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. “Officer Fitzgerald’s life was ripped from him and his loved ones violently and senselessly. As the DA’s Homicide Unit begins the work of holding Miles Pfeffer accountable for his alleged crimes, our Victims Services team will also be extending loving support to Officer Fitzgerald’s family and loved ones.”

Krasner commended Temple University Police, the U.S. Marshals, Philadelphia Police and Bucks County law enforcement officials for quickly apprehending Pfeffer.

“Once again, I call on state and federal lawmakers to apply that same urgency toward addressing the obscene supply and availability of firearms in our communities, which robs people of their lives, futures, and freedoms in a way that no other wealthy peacetime nation tolerates,” he said. “Students, staff, and public safety officers from Pennsylvania to Michigan to California deserve to live freely – absent the danger and trauma that daily gun violence imposes on every American.”

—William Bender

At noon, Jennifer Griffin, Temple’s vice president for public safety, sent out an e-mail to the Temple community:

— Susan Snyder

Just a few short years ago, Miles Pfeffer posed for photos on Instagram with largemouth bass and other fish he’d caught. He was 15, but looked young enough to be in middle school.

Then it was dirt bikes, then a Ducati, and by last November, he was sitting atop a basketball hoop, fanning out $20 bills. Another Instagram photo later that month showed a male with a concealed face, displaying money in a similar fashion — but with what appeared to be a Ruger semiautomatic pistol tucked into his waistband. “Work smart not hard make stupid decisions face stupid consequences,” Pfeffer wrote.

The consequences could include spending the rest of his life in prison.

Pfeffer, who turned 18 last month, was arrested Sunday morning in Buckingham Township, Bucks County in connection with the shooting death of Temple Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald near 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue, near the campus border.

According to police paperwork, Fitzgerald, 31, was heard over police radio at 7:12 p.m. stating that he was in foot pursuit of suspects. When Temple officers responded, they found Fitzgerald on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his face and upper torso. He was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m. at Temple University Hospital. Police say Pfeffer, who has a juvenile criminal record in Bucks County, was involved in an armed carjacking of an Infiniti Q60 about a block away, according to video obtained during the preliminary investigation.

Five 9mm cartridge cases were recovered at the scene of the shooting.

— William Bender and Barbara Laker

For Delia Joyce, a Temple freshman from Massachusetts, Sunday morning’s phone call with her mother wasn’t easy.

Joyce, a media studies major, debated whether to mention the killing of Temple police officer Christopher Fitzgerald at all. Attending school so far from home, Joyce said her parents were already worried about her safety on-campus.

”It’s definitely unsettling to them,” Joyce said of crime near campus. “They will not let me live off campus next year, that was a very big conversation.”

Joyce recalled hearing sirens for hours and hours on Saturday evening amid the heavy response to the officer’s shooting. Cars flew down the street, she said, and helicopters circled overheard.

”It’s definitely scary,” she added. “I know a lot of people who live off campus live in that area as well. And it’s just tragic.”

Though Ella Travis, an 18-year-old Temple freshman, is fairly new to campus, she’s used to Temple’s student alert system popping up on her phone. Toward the beginning of the school year, she said, she was notified about an eight-year-old girl who was shot just a block from campus.

”It’s scary, because it’s really close,” Travis said of the Temple officer’s shooting. “Then I have to remind myself, they’re not shooting at us.”

Travis, a Philadelphia native, said she knows not to go out at night by herself because of possible danger. If she does go out at night, it’s usually in groups.

Travis’ dad trusts her to stay safe at school, despite her mother’s fear she may be shot off-campus.

”There’s always police officers,” Travis said. “I think we’re all pretty safe.”

—Jesse Bunch

—John Duchneskie

“We are just thankful and grateful for the good work of the Temple and Philadelphia police departments to be able to apprehend someone so quickly,” said Ken Kaiser, Temple’s vice president and chief operating officer, about Miles Pfeffer, who was arrested in connection with the killing of Temple police officer Christopher Fitzgerald.

Kaiser said that Fitzgerald had worked at Temple since 2021.

Kaiser said the university has prepared grief counselors and employee assistance resources in anticipation of high need when classes resume on Monday. “We’re very aware and sensitive to what this will do to the psyche of the campus,” Kaiser said.

— Susan Snyder

— David Maialetti

The 18-year-old man arrested this morning in connection with Saturday night’s fatal shooting of a Temple University police officer Christopher Fitzgerald has been identified as Miles Pfeffer, according to three law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation. Investigators believe Pfeffer to be the person who shot Fitzgerald.

Pfeffer was transported back to the Philadelphia Police Department’s Homicide Unit Sunday morning.

— William Bender, Jeremy Roebuck and Vinny Vella

U.S. Marshals and local authorities arrested an 18-year-old man around 7 a.m. Sunday morning in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, according to law enforcement sources speaking on the condition of anonymity. The Philadelphia police department transferred him back to Philadelphia.

—William Bender and Jeremy Roebuck

Safety concerns have been mounting in Temple’s neighborhood since November 2021, when Temple student Samuel Collington was fatally shot less than two blocks from a campus building during a botched carjacking incident. Weeks before Collington’s death, 18-year-old Ahmir Jones was killed just one block south of where Christopher Fitzgerald was killed.

Armed robberies and a string of home invasions have occurred in neighborhoods where students reside. Some parents have even hired private security to patrol those areas.

Temple said it has taken steps to address safety, including adding police officers. But the Temple University Police Association has been critical of the university’s safety response, saying it does not have enough officers.

Saturday night’s shooting is the first fatal shooting of an on-duty police officer in the city since the killing of Philadelphia Police Cpl. James O’Connor in 2020.

— Susan Snyder, Max Marin, Tom Avril, and Anthony R. Wood

The name of the officer was being withheld, but sources identified him as Christopher David Fitzgerald, 31, the son of a prominent police official, Joel Fitzgerald, who spent 17 years with the Philadelphia Police Department before ascending to higher-profile law enforcement positions across the country.

“We are heartbroken tonight,” said Temple president Jason Wingard, choking back tears. Said Ken Kaiser, the school’s senior vice president and chief operating officer, “It just shakes everybody to the core.” He said that in his 32 years at the school, this was the first incident of a fatal shooting of a campus police officer.

— Susan Snyder, Max Marin, Tom Avril, and Anthony R. Wood

A Temple University police officer who “tried to intervene in a carjacking” was shot and killed Saturday night near 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue near the campus border, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.

Temple said this was the first time in the school’s history that a university security officer had been killed in the line of duty. The fatal shooting shocked the North Philadelphia campus where safety concerns have been mounting.

The name of the officer was being withheld, but sources identified him as Christopher David Fitzgerald, 31, the son of a prominent police official, Joel Fitzgerald, who spent 17 years with the Philadelphia Police Department before ascending to higher-profile law enforcement positions across the country.

In a statement, the university said a robbery occurred at a convenience store at 15th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Outlaw, however, said “the officer tried to intervene during a carjacking and was shot.”

» READ MORE: Temple police officer shot and killed in a carjacking incident, Philadelphia police say

— Susan Snyder, Max Marin, Tom Avril, and Anthony R. Wood