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Wounded Philly school safety officer is released from hospital 2 months after shooting

The school safety officers union says the incident shows the need for improvements.

School Safety Officer Craig Romanczuk talked with fellow safety officer Lanitta Spann Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 as he leaves Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. Romanczuk has been undergoing since June, when he was shot 11 times after a road rage incident when he stopped to offer assistance while heading home following an assignment. Romanczuk served close to 30 years as a Philadelphia police officer before joining the district’s Office of School Safety almost 20 years ago. He has served both as a patrol officer and been assigned to schools. His son, Erik is a Philadelphia police sergeant.
School Safety Officer Craig Romanczuk talked with fellow safety officer Lanitta Spann Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 as he leaves Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. Romanczuk has been undergoing since June, when he was shot 11 times after a road rage incident when he stopped to offer assistance while heading home following an assignment. Romanczuk served close to 30 years as a Philadelphia police officer before joining the district’s Office of School Safety almost 20 years ago. He has served both as a patrol officer and been assigned to schools. His son, Erik is a Philadelphia police sergeant.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Nearly two months after being shot while attempting to help someone on North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia school safety officer Craig Romanczuk got a hero’s send-off as he walked out of Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Center City.

Dozens of police, firefighters, and healthcare workers gathered Thursday morning along Race Street to applaud and salute Romanczuk, who spent 30 years on the city force before becoming a school police officer in 2006.

On June 29, the 68-year old was on his way back to a district garage after completing a patrol assignment and was stopping to offer assistance in a road-rage incident when he was shot 11 times and crashed into a tree. In July, a man was arrested in connection with the shooting.

» READ MORE: Philly school police officers say they need better pay and training — and new uniforms — to keep kids safe

At a media event to celebrate his departure from the hospital, Bernadette Ambrose-Smith, president of the School Police Association of Philadelphia, said she felt hope and gratitude toward Romanczuk and those who helped him recover.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Ambrose-Smith told him.

Romanczuk declined to speak at the event, but plenty of others spoke in support of him, including Craig Johnson, the Philadelphia School District school safety chief.

“Today is nothing short of an absolute miracle,” Johnson said.

Romanczuk, as a district patrol officer, was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot, but most district safety officers do not have vests. Union officials have said Romanczuk’s shooting underscores the need to improve how school safety officers are equipped, trained, and treated.

With the safety officers’ contract slated to expire Sunday, Ambrose-Smith has publicly called out the district for not taking her union’s negotiations seriously enough. The two sides are set to resume negotiations Friday, she said.

Outside the hospital, about 40 city police officers, school safety officers, and firefighters stood in a row and applauded as Romanczuk was escorted to a white Cadillac Escalade waiting for him.

“He retired as a police officer after over 30 years, and then he becomes school police and this happens,” said Anthony Acquaviva, a Jefferson police officer.

After police saluted Romanczuk, Acquaviva said: “He deserves this.”

Philadelphia Police Capt. Lou Campione said he had worked with Romanczuk and knew him well.

“He gave his heart and soul to the job,” Campione said.