An NYPD Officer Was ‘Assassinated In An Unprovoked Attack’ In The Bronx


Getty Image

A New York police officer was shot and killed while sitting in her marked NYPD vehicle early Wednesday morning in the Bronx. According to the New York Times, 48-year-old Miosotis Familia was sitting in her vehicle, monitoring the tail-end of neighborhood Fourth of July celebrations, when the gunman approached her vehicle and opened fire. The 12-year-veteran of the force was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. The shooting occurred at around 12:30am local time, which the authorities noted was near the end of Familia’s shift.

“Based on what we know right now, this was an unprovoked attack against police officers who want to keep this great city safe,” NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill said at an early morning news conference. A few hours later, however, O’Neill took to Twitter to issue a much harsher condemnation of the attack. “Miosotis Familia has been assassinated in an unprovoked attack on cops assigned to keep NYers safe,” he said. “Keep her family in your prayers.”

CNN reports the suspect, who was later identified by police as 34-year-old Alexander Bonds, was confronted by officers a block away from where Familia was shot. When he drew his revolver on them, the officers responded with lethal force, shooting and killing the suspect before he had the chance to fire. Meanwhile, a bystander who was struck by a stray bullet is in stable condition at a nearby hospital. The motive for Familia’s murder remains unknown at this time.


UPDATE: According to the Associated Press, Bonds “ranted about the treatment of civilians by officers” while decrying how hard his life had been while behind bars. “Don’t think every brother, cousin, uncle you got that get killed in jail is because of a Blood or Crip or Latin King killing them,” the shooting suspect warned in a Facebook video. “Nah, police be killing them and saying that an inmate killed them.”

(Via New York Times, CNN and Associated Press)

×