THE BRONX — An NYPD officer fatally shot in the Bronx early Wednesday has been identified as Miosotis Familia, a mother and 12-year veteran of the police force.
Familia was sitting in marked NYPD command vehicle in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx around 12:30 a.m. when a gunman walked up and fired, shooting the officer in the head, police said. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia (NYPD)
“It is clear that this was an unprovoked direct attack on police officers who were assigned to keep the people of this city safe,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill said within hours of the slaying.
Familia, 48, was a mother of three, all of whom learned of their mother’s killing overnight and were at the hospital when she died.
She was a 12-year veteran of the police force.
Police sources told PIX11 News Familia was killed in one of the most violent areas of the Bronx.
Until recently, she’d been working off patrol after undergoing multiple surgeries on her back and arm, sources said.
But she was reassigned to patrol as part of the department’s Summer All Out program, in which officers formerly assigned to administrative jobs work 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., when most violent crimes take place.
Before dedicating more than a decade to the city’s police department, Familia was a nurse and a Red Cross worker. She was also a member of the New York Dominican Officers Association.
“While attacking a police officer is always a fundamental breach of the rule of law and common decency, the unprovoked nature of this attack is especially disturbing. She deserved better,” Sen. Marisol Alcantara said in a statement.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of officers responded to the hospital to pay their respects to Familia Wednesday morning.
Alexander Bonds, 34, is accused of opening fire on Familia.
Police said Bonds was caught running on Morris Avenue, about a block away from the scene of the crime, after Familia’s partner radioed for help.
When he was confronted by a sergeant and a police officer, who were both in uniform, Bonds allegedly pulled out a gun. The officers opened fire, killing him. Police said a silver revolver was found at the scene.
A bystander was also shot during the confrontation and hospitalized, police said.
For many, the slaying of Familia, dubbed an “assassination” by her colleagues, called to mind the 2014 murders of NYPD detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
Ramos and Liu were sitting in their patrol car in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, when they were shot at point-blank range.
PIX11 News’ Myles Miller contributed to this report.
