iTunes has nothing to do with the Camera Roll on the phone. iTunes can be used to transfer photos from the computer to the phone (but not the other direction). The number of Photos displayed on the Photos page of iTunes to the right of "Sync Photos From" is the number of photos selected on that page to be synced from the computer to the phone.
If you want to get the Camera Roll pictures off of the phone to reduce space you can transfer them to the computer (that's a good idea even without space issues, to protect against loss). Transfer instructions: iOS: Import personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer
If you have previously used iTunes to sync with 2500 photos (or any number) selected to be synced, those photos will be in the Photos app on the phone but not in the Camera Roll. To delete them you would need to use iTunes to sync again but with different selections/settings. Each time you sync using iTunes it sets the non-Camera Roll photos on the phone to match the current iTunes settings.