Early Wednesday morning, a female NYPD officer was shot in the head while sitting in her marked police vehicle in the Bronx. The victim, Officer Miosotis Familia, 48, died of the single gunshot wound.
In what’s been called an “unprovoked attack,” Familia, a mother of three, was shot through a closed window at 12:30 a.m. The murderer, 34-year-old Alexander Bonds, was later shot dead by officers.
Bonds was out on parole for a robbery in Syracuse, NY, in 2014.
“It was an attempted cop assassination,” a source from law enforcement told The New York Post. “This is absolutely an unprovoked attack,” said James P. O’Neill, NYPD Commissioner.
Familia was a 12-year-veteran, most recently in the Anti-Crime unit of the 46th Precinct, according to the Post, and a mother of three young children. She underwent surgery after the attack but could not be saved, dying in St. Barnabus Hospital.
According to O’Neil, Bonds fired one round, fled the scene and was later killed by Familia’s partner and a back-up officer one block from the murder; one bystander, who remains in stable condition, was shot during the incident.
“Cops rushing to the scene were warned by radio to keep their patrol vehicle windows closed while responding,” notes the Post.
“I was in this bodega right here on Crescent, just getting a sandwich and all of a sudden there was all this running and stuff going on and I look out probably 40,50, 60 cops screaming, ‘Call a paramedic, clear the block!'” recalled 17-year-old witness, Jay Marzelli.
“It looked like there was a riot going on… two seconds later I hear gunshots: bam, bam…. and then the police officer was just laying there in front of the stationary precinct,” he continued.
“I saw an officer laying there in the ground unconscious in another officers arms. Police officers screaming: ‘Get the f—ing paramedics,'” said Marzelli.
“It was crazy — just insane. There were police officers everywhere,” he said.
In December of 2014, two New York officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were assassinated while sitting in their marked police car in a purposeful anti-cop hit.
The innocent officers were murdered by 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who had posted anti-cop threats via social media prior to the murders.