A Phoenix police officer that died after being shot while on duty May 26 was working toward a bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice at the Downtown campus.
Travis Murphy, 29, was shot multiple times while searching for a hit-and-run suspect north of downtown Phoenix. He later died from his wounds at a nearby hospital, according to a Phoenix Police Department news release.
Murphy was a junior heading into his senior year, said Scott Decker, the director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
“He was a very good student,” Decker said. “Like so many ASU students, he was balancing a job and a family with going to school and did a really outstanding job of that.”
Murphy was a father of a 2-year-old daughter and a 2-week-old son at the time of his death, according to a news release.
“To have a 3-week-old whose parent was murdered, who they’ll grow up and never know their dad, is really a sad, sad situation,” Decker said.
Criminology and criminal justice is a standard degree for someone in law enforcement, he said.
“To move up to management ranks in most big departments requires a college degree,” Decker said.
Andrew Clemency, an attorney and faculty associate at the criminology school, said he had Murphy in his discretionary justice class during the spring semester.
“He was a very capable student,” Clemency said. “He attended class faithfully and participated in class regularly and earned a very good, solid grade.”
He said he didn’t know for certain what Murphy did for a living during the class but he figured he was a police officer.
As a public defender, Clemency said he deals with police on a regular basis and they tend to have an adversarial role toward each other.
“I knew he was a cop,” Clemency said. “I could tell. I could kind of spot him a mile away.”
He said Murphy wore dark blue pants and probably changed into his uniform and went to work right after class.
At the end of the term, Clemency said Murphy asked to turn in his final paper early because his wife was going to have a baby soon.
“I told him, ‘Absolutely. Do what you need to do. Some things are more important in life than going to class,” Clemency said.
He said Murphy turned in his paper early but ended up coming to class anyway.
"It's just a really tragic situation," Clemency said.
Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu
