Accused killer of Temple Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald stabbed multiple times in jail

Miles Pfeffer, the man accused of shooting and killing Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald in 2023, was stabbed multiple times in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, where he has been held awaiting his murder trial.

Around 6:40 p.m. Thursday, another incarcerated man, Rafael Vanegas, ran out of his cell and attacked Pfeffer, 19, according to the jail incident report. Vanegas managed to slip out while a corrections officer was bringing his cellmate back to the cell, the report said.

Pfeffer, who was in a communal area for recreation at the time, suffered puncture injuries to his forehead, inner right hip, and right hand in the attack, the report said.

After Vanegas refused commands to stop the assault, a correctional officer pepper-sprayed him and he and Pfeffer were separated, the report said. Pfeffer was then taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital for medical evaluation, according to the report.

Pfeffer was treated and released and returned to the jail, a source with knowledge of the incident said Friday afternoon. .

A spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Prisons said the agency could not comment on the incident, which is under investigation.

The Defender Association of Philadelphia, which is representing Pfeffer, called the incident troubling and said it was concerned not just about Pfeffer’s safety, but of that of other incarcerated people and staff at Philadelphia prison facilities.

“We’re concerned about that client’s safety as well as other people who aren’t our clients,” said George Jackson, a spokesperson for the association.

“Everybody on State Road, as well as the staff,” he added, referring to the address of the Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility.

Pfeffer faces charges of murder and related crimes for the fatal shooting of Fitzgerald.

On the night of Feb. 18, 2023, authorities said, Pfeffer shot Fitzgerald, 31, multiple times in his face and chest at close range after the officer spotted Pfeffer and two others wearing face masks and dressed in all black near the Temple campus.

There had been recent carjackings and robberies in the area and Fitzgerald said over the radio he was going to make a pedestrian stop, police said. When Fitzgerald approached Pfeffer, the then-18-year-old fled, with Fitzgerald chasing after him, police said.

The two got into a physical struggle, police say, and Pfeffer pulled out a pistol and shot Fitzgerald. Pfeffer, who was a high school senior at the time, then stood over Fitzgerald and shot him multiple times at point-blank range, killing him, police said.

Pfeffer then stole a man’s car at gunpoint and drove to his mother’s home in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, where he was arrested hours later, police say.

Since Pfeffer’s arrest, Fitzgerald’s family has repeatedly called on Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to pursue the death penalty for Pfeffer.

“What we’d like to see is this person to go through the pain that our son went through, to go through the suffering that our family is going through,” Joel Fitzgerald, a former Philadelphia police officer, said of Pfeffer after a court hearing last year.

In July, Krasner’s office announced it would not pursue the death penalty, upsetting the Fitzgerald family and their supporters.

Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.