Slain Philadelphia Police Officer Jaime Roman will be laid to rest Thursday

Philadelphia Police Officer Jaime Roman, who was shot in the line of duty earlier this summer and died from his injuries last week, will be laid to rest Thursday with a series of events beginning before dawn.

Around 5:15 a.m., the hearse carrying Roman’s casket will be escorted from a funeral home in Northeast Philadelphia to Police Headquarters on North Broad Street, the Police Department said. Then, at 6 a.m., Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Commissioner Kevin Bethel, and other police leaders will escort the hearse to the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where there will be a viewing open to the public for several hours.

Around 11 a.m., Roman will be remembered at a Funeral Mass at the Basilica, during which Bethel and Parker are among those expected to eulogize Roman, a six-year veteran of the force who was assigned to the 25th District.

Afterward, there will be a final salute before police leaders and Roman’s colleagues participate in a procession ahead of his private interment.

The proceedings will mark a final chapter for Roman, who Bethel said had been in a “valiant fight” for his life for nearly three months after being shot in Kensington in June. Roman, 31, was the father of two children — a 7-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son — and during his career had worked in districts covering parts of Southwest Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, and Kensington, police said.

Police have said Roman was shot in Kensington on June 22 by Ramon Rodriguez Vazquez, 36. The officer and his partner had pulled Vazquez over on the 3500 block of F Street for lacking proper registration for his Toyota sedan, and subsequently discovered that Vazquez did not have a driver’s license.

While waiting for a tow truck to haul the car away, police said, the officers searched the car and discovered a gun holster tucked beneath a seat. When they attempted to confront Vazquez about it, police said, he ran away, then turned back and started shooting at them with a gun he had in his waistband.

Roman was struck in the neck and fell to the ground, police said. His partner returned fire but did not hit Vazquez. The partner then put Roman into his patrol car and sped to Temple University Hospital.

Roman was admitted in critical condition. Officials said at the time that he was taken into surgery and then placed on a respirator. He remained hospitalized until he died last week.

Vazquez, meanwhile, ran away after the shooting, first seeking cover in a nearby garage, then attempting to carjack a minivan, according to police.

After those efforts failed, he ended up running to the 800 block of East Schiller Street, where police say he threatened a resident at gunpoint and forced him inside a house. SWAT officers arrested Vazquez there later that night.

Vazquez has been jailed ever since, and his charges were updated after Roman’s death to include murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, and illegal gun possession.

He was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in court on Thursday morning, but his case is expected to be pushed back until at least later this month, authorities said.

Roman was the fourth law enforcement officer in the city to be killed in the line of duty since 2020.

Last year, Officer Richard Mendez was fatally shot inside a parking garage at Philadelphia International Airport while trying to stop a group of people from stealing a car.

Months before that, Temple Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald was shot and killed by an 18-year-old whom Fitzgerald had attempted to stop while investigating a rash of carjackings and robberies in the area, police said.

And in March 2020, Cpl. James O’Connor was fatally shot in Frankford while seeking to arrest a man wanted for murder.