“I tried to call him, just to see if maybe he would answer, and he didn’t answer.”
That's how a sobbing Marissa Fitzgerald described the moments after she learned her husband, Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald, was gunned down in the line of duty.
Marissa had just gotten back from running errands and wasn't even out of the car when she got the call Saturday night that Officer Fitzgerald had been shot in the head along Montgomery Avenue in North Philadelphia.
A Call to Service
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Fitzgerald was doing the job that he loved and serving the city he wanted to make a better place, his family said during an interview with NBC10's Karen Hua.
“He really wanted to make a change for the city so that people could be safe and that the kids could be safe,” Marissa said. “My husband was not a bad person, he was such a good man and a good cop.. awesome cop."
Fitzgerald knew the risks he faced, his father Dr. Joel Fitzgerald Sr. -- who is in law enforcement himself -- told NBC10.
“He wanted to do it because he knew that was his method of giving back to our community,” Joel Fitzgerald said.
A Family Man
“A very hard worker, he loved to do his job, but the best job he loved to do was being a father to those kids,” the grieving widow said.
Fitzgerald left behind four children -- two girls and two boys -- between the ages of 7 to 13 with Marissa. The grieving children even curled up with their loved ones as they spoke of Fitzgerald's legacy.
“My kids will always know who their dad is," Marissa said. "Their dad is a hero and he is our greatest hero.”
The youngest daughter who Marissa described as Fitzgerald's "princess" curled up with her grandfather.
“They miss their dad so much,” she said, while saying Fitzgerald was a goofball who loved his children.
“I am going to try to be as strong as I can be because I know that’s what he wanted," Marissa said. "I’m going to make sure that they know who their dad was. They already know. He’s the greatest hero we could ever have."
Marissa said Fitzgerald was going to take his family out for breakfast Sunday morning. And he begged for her to stay with him the morning of his death. Marissa even made chocolate chip waffles instead of running some errands.
“It was the best day of my life,” she said while sobbing.
Before leaving for work, Fitzgerald came down the steps and rubbed his face on her face.
“He gave me a kiss and he told me that he loved me. And, I said ‘I love you too.’ And when he walked out the door, he said he’d be right back,” Marissa said. “He said, ‘I’ll be right back babe.’”
A Message to the Suspected Shooter
Fitzgerald's heroism was on display Saturday night when he chased down the man who police said wound up taking his life.
Philadelphia police and the district attorney's office allege that 18-year-old Miles Pfeffer shot Fitzgerald multiple times and tried to rob the officer before leaving him to die.
Marissa had a message for her husband's suspected killer.
“He took a family man, he took a father, he took a son, he took a brother, he took a nephew, you took so much," she said. "Our lives will never be the same.”
"You had no right, you are a coward, you are evil, I know what you did to my husband, you shouldn’t even be allowed to breathe because my husband is not breathing, but you get to have air flowing through your lungs," she said.
“I hope that he’s haunted for the rest of his life, I hope he rots in a cell."
“I’m a Godly woman, my husband was a Godly man, right now I have a lot of praying to do because I can’t forgive him right now,” Marissa said.
After the deadly shooting, Pfeffer is accused of carjacking a driver and ditching the car in another part of Philadelphia before getting a ride from his mother to the family's Bucks County home, where Pfeffer was arrested Sunday morning.
“Your mother who picked you up should be charged ... we will make sure that we have justice," Marissa said.
As of Tuesday, no one besides Pfeffer was charged in the case.
Carrying on Officer Fitzgerald's Legacy
“I’m going to make sure that his legacy is carried on," Marissa said.
She said her husband would take pride in getting guns off the street, but was also empathetic toward the community he served.
“Every day they go out they put their lives on the line, knowing that it’s a possibility that they might not come home,” she said.
That didn't stop Fitzgerald from working in some of the toughest parts of the city.
“Chris was adamant that he could stay in Philadelphia and facilitate change,” Joel Fitzgerald said. “Although we’re devastated, we could never be more proud.'
Marissa noted an honor paid to slain officers in the city, while promising to work toward peace.
“He will not just be a portrait on the wall in the city.”
Funeral Info for Christopher Fitzgerald
Funeral arrangements for Officer Fitzgerald will start on Thursday, Feb. 23 with a viewing from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at John F. Givnish Funeral Home at 10975 Academy Rd. in Northeast Philadelphia.
Another viewing will be held on Friday, Feb 24 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at 1723 Race Street in Center City. The funeral service will begin around 11:30 a.m.
Immediately following the service will be the burial at Forest Hills Cemetery at 101 Byberry Rd. in Huntingdon Valley.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
