Temple University police officer to be laid to rest Friday; Bucks County man arraigned in shooting

The 18-year-old Buckingham man accused of killing a Temple University Police Department officer, then committing an armed carjacking was arraigned Monday on a long list of charges starting with murder and murder of a law enforcement officer.

A Philadelphia Municipal Court judge denied bail for Miles Pfeffer, and set his preliminary hearing for March 7.    Online court records did not list an attorney representing Pfeffer on Monday.

Philadelphia police and the District Attorney’s Office did not provide any update or additional details about the investigation and both refused to provide a copy of the affidavit of probable cause in the case, a public document that includes details showing the reason for filing criminal charges.

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Pfeffer is accused of fatally shooting Temple University police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald, 31, in what is the college police department’s first line-of-duty death.

Fitzgerald, a father of four, worked for Temple since 2021, after working in other law enforcement and corrections positions in the city and in the Lehigh Valley. He was also known as a community activist participating in the Hood2Hood project, where members of running clubs with primarily male minority members ran through neighborhoods most affected by gun violence to encourage others to pursue positive activities.

A GoFund-Me account created to benefit the Fitzgerald family raised more than $250,000 as of Monday afternoon roughly one day after it was created by the Temple University Police Association.

The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police on Monday afternoon posted information about funeral services for Fitzgerald.

The viewing will be held Thursday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at at John F. Givnish Funeral Home on Academy Road in Philadelphia and Friday 8 to 11:30 am. at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Center City with a service after and interment following at Forest Hills Cemetery in Huntingdon Valley.

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Meanwhile, Philadelphia authorities have released little information Fitzgerald's accused killer, who turned 18 last month.

What we have learned about Miles Pfeffer

On Monday a Central Bucks School District spokeswoman confirmed that Pfeffer attended school in the district until September, 2019. The district did not respond to questions about how long he attended district schools or the reason he left.

Pfeffer was enrolled in the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology in Warwick, where he had been a student since September 2020, Administrative Director Mark Covelle confirmed Monday. The vocational and technical school will have additional personnel on site this week to provide counseling and other supports to the school community.

"Our thought are with the officer's family and the grieving Temple University community," Covelle added.

County property records list Pfeffer’s mother, Jill Pfeffer, as a co-owner of the 20-acre property called “Boxley Farm,” which was purchased in November of 2018.

Police said he fled the murder scene and returned to his Quarry Road home, some 42 miles away from the North Philadelphia campus. Pfeffer reportedly called his mother to pick him up in the city, according to published reports.

On Sunday morning, police from local, state and federal agencies arrested Pfeffer at the Buckingham home, using Fitzgerald's handcuffs. The U.S. Marshals Service, Central Bucks Special Response Team, Buckingham Police and Philadelphia Homicide Detectives arrested him at his home about 7:30 a.m.

Investigators spent a portion of the day searching the home and were seen on news footage going through a fire pit as Pfeffer allegedly told police he tried to melt the gun used in the shooting.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said it could not respond to media reports that Pfeffer had a juvenile criminal record in the county. Pfeffer’s Instagram account was made private on Sunday and his mother’s Facebook page was deleted on Monday.

On his Instagram posts, Pfeffer flashed cash and showed his love for dirt bikes and fishing. One post read, "Work smart not hard make stupid decisions face stupid consequences" as Pfeffer hid his face behind cash fanned out in front of him.

A former Central Bucks school bus driver said that Pfeffer was among the handful of CBSD students that he transported from the Doylestown campus of the New Hope Academy, a private alternative school.

PhillyBurbs was unsuccessful in reaching officials at New Hope Academy on Monday. On its website, the school describes itself as “specializing in motivating and educating school-phobic students, at-risk teens, gifted students, those with IEPs who need additional help, and students who just feel that they do not “fit” in their schools.“

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Bus driver recalls Miles Pfeffer

In a phone interview on Monday Thomas Beahm, who retired last June after driving for CBSD for seven years, said he got to know Pfeffer, his last afternoon stop, during the 2020 and 2022 school years.

Most of the time, he sat in the back of the bus listening to his music, but a couple times he’d move up front during the 20 minutes when they were the only two people on the bus, Beahm said.

Pfeffer told him about how he didn’t plan to go to college but he had looked into working as a diver on an oil rig.   He expressed an interest in cars and mechanics. He also liked animals.

Beahm recalled one afternoon how Pfeffer got off his bus and picked up a giant turtle in the middle of the road and placed it on the other side out of traffic.

Every afternoon as he got off the bus, he told Beahm to have a good night and he’d see him tomorrow, even on Fridays.

Pfeffer never gave him any trouble, even when he reminded Pfeffer he had to put his mask on during the pandemic protocols, he’d do it immediately, Beahm said. He never heard any teachers complain about him, and he got along with other kids on the bus.

"He was nice to be around compared to some of the other kids I had on the bus,” Beahm said. “He struck me as someone who had a plan in life. He had options he was excited about.”

After hearing about Fitzgerald’s murder on Monday, Beahm said he has found it difficult to fathom how the friendly kid he drove home for two years could have allegedly committed such a heinous crime.

But if he is found guilty of killing Fitzgerald, he needs to face the consequences, Beahm said.

“There was never any indication he was a problem,” he added. “It’s so hard to understand.”

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Miles Pfeffer arraigned in Temple University officer shooting