Philadelphia police officer Jaime Roman dies after being shot in Kensington in June

By Jessica MacAulay, Tom Dougherty, Tom Ignudo, Laura Fay

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — Philadelphia leaders gathered to mourn the death of Officer Jaime Roman, who died Tuesday night after he was shot in the line of duty in June.

Roman died on Sept. 10 at Temple University Hospital “surrounded by family,” Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel announced.

In a press conference Wednesday morning, Bethel said Roman was two weeks shy from his seventh anniversary as a Philadelphia police officer. Capt. Steven Wheeler, Roman’s supervisor in the 25th district, called Roman a “very young, vibrant officer.”

“He could light up a room,” Wheeler said. “He will be deeply missed by not only the city, the police department, but by his 25th district family.”

Wheeler said Roman was initially assigned to the 12th district but was transferred to the 25th district, where he spent the majority of his career.

From speaking with Roman’s father, Bethel said Roman has always wanted to be a police officer.

“That was unwavering from his father,” Bethel said. “From the time he could remember, he always wanted to be a cop.”

Bethel recalled being asked recently what keeps him up at night and what worries him as the city commissioner. He said it’s the calls like the one he received on June 22.

“It is that call that one of my officers has been shot or that my officers has died,” Bethel said. “There’s nothing like that you could ever imagine. I talked to my wife this morning. These are my children now. When I came on the job, it was my colleague as a young cop. But now this 31-year-old officer, who was two weeks from having his seventh-year anniversary, has been taken away from me.”

“Every time I walked into that hospital [room], I saw my son,” Bethel added. “I sit here in the police department, I ask these men and women under our charge, under the leadership of our mayor, to go into some of the most dangerous and dangerous places you could ever imagine and it is in those times, unfortunately, that they lose their lives.”

On June 22, Roman was shot in the neck during a traffic stop in Kensington. Police said Roman and his partner, Officer Azieme Lindsey, were surveying a car during a stop in the 3500 block of F Street when they spotted a holster.

Bethel said on the night of the shooting, one of the four passengers fled the car and fired three times at Roman as he ran away. Police later identified the alleged shooter as 36-year-old Ramon Rodriguez Vazquez.

According to police, Vazquez was driving an unregistered vehicle without a driver’s license.

Before Roman’s death, Vazquez was charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and numerous other offenses, including aggravated assault and criminal trespass. On Wednesday, Bethel said Vasquez’s charges are expected to be upgraded to murder.

Bethel said funeral arrangements for Roman are being made and the police department will provide them once they’re finalized.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker ordered city flags to fly at half-staff in Roman’s remembrance. The mayor joined Bethel and Wheeler during the Wednesday news conference, saying Roman was shot in the line of duty in a “cowardly act.”

“This is the first time this has happened during my tenure, a death of a police officer in the line of duty,” Parker said. “I depended on our police commissioner, and I still do, who, unfortunately, has been here many, many times before. So I don’t know how to act. There’s no playbook on what a mayor is supposed to do at a time like this.”

“There isn’t anything that you can say to ease someone’s grief and pain at a moment like that,” the mayor added.

On Tuesday night, dozens of police officers were outside Temple University of Hospital to pay their respects to Roman as the procession began to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Officer on North Broad Street.

Following the announcement that Roman had died, Bethel said the young officer “battle over these last two-and-a-half months” and called it a difficult day for the department.

“As you see the outpouring of love from the men and woman behind us,” Bethel said outside Temple University Hospital. “We grieve for him. We support him and his family.”

In a statement, the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5 said Tuesday night, “Despite his valiant fight to recover, Officer Roman passed away tonight. This is a heartbreaking loss for the entire FOP family.”

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