A New York City police officer was shot and killed in an “unprovoked attack” as she was sitting inside a police vehicle early Wednesday morning, authorities said.
Officer Miosotis Familia was sitting inside a New York Police Department command vehicle with her partner when she was shot and killed, police said. The deadly shooting — which the city’s police commissioner labeled an assassination — happened at 12:30 a.m. in the Bronx.
Familia, a 12-year NYPD veteran, was initially reported in extremely critical condition. But Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill
announced on Twitter several hours later that Familia had died.
https://twitter.com/NYPDONeill/status/882550648671272960
“Based on what we know right now, this was an unprovoked attack against police officers who work to keep this great city safe,” O’Neill said
at a news conference early Wednesday. Familia’s partner was not injured in the attack.
Familia was wrapping up her shift when the gunman fired a shot through the window and struck her in the head,
the Associated Press reported.
Police said Familia’s partner immediately called for help.
Officers confronted the suspected gunman about a block away from the scene of the shooting. The suspect was shot and killed after he drew a silver revolver, police said. He was identified by the authorities as 34-year-old Alexander Bonds.
[NYPD: Attacker dead after report of ‘several people shot’ at Bronx Hospital]
A bystander was shot during that encounter. Police said that person is in stable condition.
It remains unclear what prompted the attack, officials said. Bonds had been on parole for a robbery case in Syracuse, according to the AP.
https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/882567916549537792
At least 65 law enforcement officers had been killed in the United States through July 4,
according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit group that monitors line-of-duty deaths — a 25 percent increase over the same period last year.
In 2016, law enforcement fatalities spiked to their highest level in five years, with 135 officers killed in the line of duty, according to the Memorial Fund.
