By Chris Palmer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia police officer who was shot during a traffic stop in Kensington in June has died from his the injuries, officials announced Tuesday night.
Officer Jaime Roman, 31, was a six-year veteran assigned to the 25th District. He had been hospitalized after being shot in the neck on June 22 and had been recovering for months. But Roman “passed away this evening while surrounded by family,” Commissioner Kevin Bethel wrote on X.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said Roman died around 8:30 p.m., adding: “A grateful city mourns his loss.”
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 said: “Despite his valiant fight to recover, Officer Roman passed away tonight. This is a heartbreaking loss for the entire FOP family.”
Parker and Bethel said they would address the matter at news conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Police have said Roman was shot by Ramon Rodriguez Vazquez, 36, after the officer and his partner pulled Vazquez over on the 3500 block of F Street for lacking proper registration for a Toyota sedan.
The officers subsequently discovered that Vazquez did not have a driver’s license, and called for a tow truck to haul his car away. As they were conducting a search of the vehicle, police said, the officers discovered a gun holster, and when they attempted to confront Vazquez about it, he ran away and started shooting back toward 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 didn’t hit Vazquez. He then put Roman into his patrol car and drove 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, and was fighting for his life.
Vazquez, meanwhile, ran off, first trying to seek refuge in a nearby garage, then unsuccessfully trying to carjack a minivan, according to police. 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. SWAT officers arrested Vazquez inside that house later that night.
Vazquez was jailed and charged with crimes including attempted murder, aggravated assault of an officer, and illegal gun possession. The charges are likely to be upgraded to murder now that Roman has died.
Roman is the tenth police officer to be shot in the city in recent months — and the third to be killed in the line of duty since 2020.
Last year, Temple Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald was fatally shot by 18-year-old Miles Pfeffer in North Philadelphia. Fitzgerald was attempting to stop Pfeffer due to a rash of carjackings and robberies in the area, police have said.
In March 2020 , Cpl. James O’Connor was fatally shot inside a Frankford rowhouse when he and other SWAT officers went to serve an arrest warrant for a man wanted in a homicide.
Bethel, the commissioner, wrote on X last month that Phillies players including Kyle Schwarber met with Roman’s family before a game in August. Bethel posted photos of Schwarber posing for photos and signing a bat for Roman’s relatives, writing: “We stand united with [officer] Roman, his family, friends and all who love him.”
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