Early Wednesday morning a 12 year veteran of the New York City Police Department was brutally gunned down by a career criminal out on parole.

A police officer was fatally shot in the head while sitting in a police vehicle in the Bronx early Wednesday, according to law enforcement sources. The officer has been identified as 48-year-old mother of three Miosotis Familia.
Alexander Bonds, 34, came up and blasted Familia through the window without warning, sources said.It seemed to be a deliberate “cop assassination,” one law enforcement source told The Post. Bonds approached at 12:30 a.m. as Familia sat inside a temporary headquarters vehicle at East 183rd Street and Morris Avenue in Fordham Heights, according to sources.

The response by her partner and other officers with the NYPD was immediate. Officer Familia was transported to the hospital and her family rushed to her side. She died soon afterwards.

#NYPD PO Miosotis Familia has been assassinated in an unprovoked attack on cops assigned to keep NYers safe. Keep her family in your prayers pic.twitter.com/yhRB7H5bvi

— Commissioner O'Neill (@NYPDONeill) July 5, 2017

Who was Officer Miosotis Familia?

She was the youngest of nine and a mother of three. Her family considered her as their “Warrior.”

“She would set anybody straight,” the nephew, John Cuello, said in an interview. “I’ve seen a lot of her putting her siblings in their place. Holding her ground. Her attitude was, ‘I might be the youngest one, but I’m the toughest one.’” He remembered her encouraging her nieces and nephews, whenever they got into neighborhood scrapes, to confront their problems head on, and never hide.

She used that strength to raise her three children — a boy and girl who are twins, and a daughter who is in college, Mr. Cuello said — as well as step up to care for her mother, who lived with her and the twins in their apartment in another Bronx neighborhood.

Officer Familia became a police officer at age 36 after holding a number of different jobs, and the fit was instant, her nephew said.

“She was a warrior, tell you the truth,” Mr. Cuello said. “She was a fighter, she was tough — and that was the job for her.”

She spent two years working for the Red Cross and another five as a nurse. She took care of her mother as well as raising three girls, twelve year old twins, and a 20 yr old college student.

Officer Familia was assigned to the 46th precinct. At the time of the shooting, she’d been working midnight shifts on a regular basis and had been assigned to that specific mobile command center for a number of weeks since a triple shooting had happened in the same area.

Officers rallied to the family’s side and rendered a final salute to one of their own as she was taken to the medical examiners office.

As her family and friends mourn the loss of a mother, cousin, daughter, and fellow officer in blue; it must be noted that the toxic hatred Bonds exhibited towards police officers is a continuation of the violent rhetoric that has become more prevalent and in many ways was encouraged by the Obama Administration since Ferguson. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) is correct:

“The only thing Officer Miosotis Familia could be accused of doing was protecting the community she served-until the very end. This was an especially senseless and wanton murder. And it shows how much we owe the men and women in blue, who spent their holiday weekend working while the rest of us celebrated, and how much we need to push back against the toxic forces that demean and defame police work.”

Agreed. She was slain solely because she was a cop. The violent rhetoric that has been excused by many in the political realm since the very first Ferguson riots must stop before more officers are assassinated and our communities endangered.

Officer Miosotis Familia was a ‘Warrior’ for her family and for her community. We offer our prayers to her family and friends through this time.