Viewing and funeral service for Philadelphia Police Officer Jaime Roman happening this week
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia Police Officer Jaime Roman, who died nearly two months after being shot in Kensington during a traffic stop, will be laid to rest this week.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Roman passed away at the age of 31 on Sept. 10 "surrounded by family" at Temple University Hospital, just two weeks before his seventh anniversary as an officer with the city.
"It is that call that one of my officers has been shot or that my officers has died. There's nothing like that you could ever imagine," Bethel said during a press conference earlier this month.
"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," he said.
A public viewing will be held for Roman on Wednesday, Sept. 18 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Givnish Funeral Home on Academy Road in Northeast Philadelphia. A Commanders March will begin at 5:30 p.m. from nearby Archbishop Ryan High School to the funeral home.
A second viewing will happen on Thursday, Sept. 19 at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. Roman's funeral, which is not open to the public, will follow the viewing.
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. Officials said Vazquez was driving an unregistered vehicle without a driver's license.
Vazquez was initially charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and numerous other offenses, including aggravated assault and criminal trespass, but the charges were upgraded to murder following Roman's death.