Family of Slain Officer Wants Progressive DA Recalled for Refusal to Seek Death Penalty for Suspected Killer

The family of slain Temple University Police Sergeant Christopher Fitzgerald on Wednesday called for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner 's recall after he rejected use of the death penalty for the suspect in Fitzgerald's murder.

Fitzgerald, a 31-year-old husband and father of five, tried to stop teenagers from committing a carjacking on Saturday Feb. 18, 2023, along the edge of Temple's campus. During the incident then-18-year-old Miles Pfeffer shot the officer six times in the head, authorities say.

The family has been pushing for Pfeffer to be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death ever since, but they found out Tuesday night that Krasner would be declining to do so.

"As a uniformed police officer in the city of Philadelphia … volunteering his time off duty away from his family to give back, for someone like that, who made us so proud as a family, to be struck down in the streets of Philadelphia and for the district attorney to decide that this isn't worthy of … a judge or jury to consider the death penalty as a means of punishment for this offense is reprehensible," Joel Fitzgerald, Christopher's father, a five-time police chief and Philadelphia native, told Fox News Digital .

Fitzgerald's family fears Krasner will try to make a plea deal with the defendant for third-degree murder instead of first-degree and avoid a jury trial because he has his "own agenda," Joel said.