A police officer was fatally shot early this morning while in a marked NYPD command vehicle in the Bronx. Police Commissioner James O'Neill said, "Based on what we know now, it is clear that this was an unprovoked direct attack on police officers who were assigned to keep the people of this city safe."
The female officer—identified as 48-year-old Miosotis Familia, a 12-year veteran of the police department—was sitting in the mobile command unit, which was stationed near Morris Avenue and East 183rd Street, when around 12:30 a.m. a gunman fired through a window and shot her in the head, police say.
Her partner radioed for help, screaming, "10-85, 10-85, shots fired! Give me a f***ing bus!... "My partner's shot!"
According to O'Neill, "An anti-crime team, consisting of a sergeant and a police officer, who were in uniform, encountered a male subject running on Morris Avenue, approximately one block from the scene of the shooting. As they confronted him, he drew a revolver. The officers fired at him, striking and killing him. A silver revolver was recovered at the scene."
Familia was taken to Saint Barnabus Hospital in extremely critical condition and was later pronounced dead.
A bystander was also shot in the stomach when police fired at the suspect. Police say the bystander is in stable condition.
The suspect was identified as Alexander Bonds, 34. Multiple outlets report that he was out on parole for a 2014 robbery in Syracuse.
The command post was in the neighborhood "in response to a recent shooting." O'Neill said that they are looking for surveillance video from the area, and sources told NBC New York that Bonds walked to the police vehicle with "purpose."
Witness Jay Marzulli described the chaos, telling the Daily News he thought the gunfire was fireworks, "I was in this bodega right here on Creston, 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!' It looked like there was a riot going on and two seconds later I hear gunshots, ‘bam, bam’ and then the police officer was just lying there in front of the stationary precinct — right here on Creston."
In a recent Tweet, O'Neill said that Familia was "assassinated."
A source told the News that Familia had been "filling out her memo book" when she was shot.
Mayor de Blasio called the killing a "shocking and sudden attack." "She was on duty, serving this city protecting people, doing what she believed in and the job she loved," he said.
Last November, police officer Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, was fatally shot while on duty in the Bronxduring the pursuit of a robbery suspect. In 2014, two uniformed police officers, sitting in their patrol car, were assassinated in Brooklyn.