The morning after the fatal shooting of a Temple police officer, some students were shocked — others, not surprised

On Temple University’s campus Sunday morning, students trickled into Charles Library near the university’s iconic Bell Tower. Horns blared for a pep rally, echoing off windswept city buildings. A gaggle of youths was led on a tour of what could be their future alma matter.

Campus life appeared normal, but the shooting death of Temple Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald the night before was fresh on students’ minds.

“I was shocked,” said Jessica Pando, an 18-year-old freshman. “It was tragic something like this happened close to campus.”

Shootings are nothing new to Temple students, who receive safety alerts from campus officials on their phones. That’s how Pando and other students learned of Fitzgerald’s fatal shooting Saturday evening near 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue, close to the edge of campus.

Around 7:15 p.m., Fitzgerald was shot in the face and upper torso while in pursuit of criminal suspects, according to police. Fitzgerald was pronounced dead shortly after. On Sunday morning, officers arrested 18-year-old Miles Pfeffer in Bucks County and planned to charge him with murder of a law enforcement official, among other charges.

Though Ella Travis is fairly new to campus, the 18-year-old freshman is used to the safety alerts. Toward the beginning of the school year, Travis said, a text message notified her of the shooting of an 8-year-old girl just a block from campus.

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

Several blocks from the Bell Tower, flowers and framed photographs of Fitzgerald leaned against the side of a home on Montgomery Avenue, a memorial for the slain officer.

Sean Sweeney, a 22-year-old senior, lives two blocks from the scene. Standing over the memorial, where photos show Fitzgerald posing among friends, he called the officer’s death a “damn shame.”

“He was out here protecting our community, and the suspect unfortunately decided to take this man’s life with no regard to anything at all.”

Travis and other students described their sadness over the shooting, but they weren’t particularly surprised. Since 2020, there have been 129 shootings within a quarter-mile of Temple’s North Philadelphia campus — 14 of them fatal, according to police records.

Travis, a Philadelphia native, said she knows not to go off campus at night by herself. If she does, she said, it’s usually in groups of other students.

Meanwhile, Delia Joyce, a freshman from Massachusetts, said her parents won’t let her live off campus next year over fears about shootings and break-ins.

During a Sunday morning phone call home, Joyce debated whether she should even tell her already cautious mother about Fitzgerald’s death, and the sirens, cop cars, and helicopters she heard for hours Saturday evening.

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

Students’ feelings on Temple’s public safety efforts were mixed.

“I think a little more [police] presence would make myself and other students feel safer,” said Ivan Korpics, a second-year graduate student. “Seeing police cars on all the corners, I think, would deter criminals and everything. ... There has to be another step to really make students feel like they can be outside at night.”

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Joyce, however, wasn’t sure more cops were the answer to students’ concerns.

“It’s tricky, because what can [the university] really do?” Joyce said. “It’s a city issue, it’s a government issue, it’s a gun-control issue. It’s a bunch of different things.”

Korpics and Travis remember their parents telling them to stay cautious and aware for their safety when they left for college. But Joyce said she thought that the university could have done a better job of informing her about the nature of criminal activity near campus before she arrived. Now she’s resigned to live on campus for her remaining three years of school despite the higher housing costs.

Sweeney said he wanted university officials to show that they care about the community surrounding campus, which also experiences gun violence.

In a statement Sunday, Temple’s vice president of public safety, Jennifer Griffin, said the loss “leaves an enormous hole in all of our hearts. He was a father, a husband, a son, a colleague, and a friend.”

“It’s not just about us,” Sweeney said. “They’ve just got to show they care.”