‘Why are you shooting me?’: School resource officer recounts being shot 11 times in June

A resource officer with the Philadelphia School District survived being shot 11 times near Penn’s Landing back in June and is sharing his story for the first time.

While recounting the night that nearly ended his life, Officer Craig Romanczuk, 68, said he was driving home around 2 a.m. when someone flagged him down and asked for help.

The driver told Officer Romanczuk that they were the victim of a road rage and that the car had followed them off of Interstate 95 and onto Front Street.

“I said, ‘sure, I’ll help you.’ I look back and I didn’t see anybody in the car behind him. And I went and I stepped out of my car and I immediately start getting shot. And I didn’t get to say anything or look around,” Romanczuk explained.

He was then shot in nearly every part of his upper body.

“I got the door open and I fell in there and I’m thinking, ‘Why are you shooting me?'” he told NBC10. “I’m laying in the car and I feel more bullets hitting me and I said, ‘Boy, I’m glad that’s over.’ And then a shot went through the neck and I felt it so hard knock out all my teeth.”

Before first responders arrived and rushed him to a nearby hospital, Romanczuk said he laid in his patrol car wondering if this is how his life, service to the city and time with his family would end.

“I’m not going to get the chance to tell my kids I love them,” he said he thought in those moments.

Romanczuk said that he had a Bible by his side and he believes a higher power played a role in his survival.

“I think part of God helped the doctors save me,” he said.

After more than a week in a coma and two months in the hospital, Romanczuk says he is feeling better and preparing for more surgeries in the future.

He is also preparing to face the man who allegedly shot him in court next week.

“I think I would be satisfied if he never gets out of prison,” Romanczuk explained.

Romanczuk says that his main focus is a new perspective on life and the people who matter most.

“I’m so happy for my family, to be alive, my kids. It’s like you get a second chance,” he said.

The man accused of shooting Romanczuk is scheduled for a bail hearing on Dec. 11, according to court documents.