The veteran police officer shot dead in an unprovoked attack in the Bronx on Wednesday was remembered by neighbors and friends as a devoted mother and dedicated officer. NY1's Shannan Ferry has that part of the story.
"I can barely talk right now," neighbor Altagracia Nivar said. "I'm very sad right now."
Nivar said she can't believe she'll never get the chance to chat with her longtime neighbor, Miosotis Familia, again.
The NYPD officer was ambushed as she sat in a police vehicle parked on East 183rd Street, killed by a bullet shot through a passenger window.
"She was a good person, excellent, she was very good," Nivar said. "Every morning, every time I saw her, she'd say hi to me, she'd say good morning, and every morning we'd talk."
Officer Familia was 48 years old and a member of the city police department for 12 years. She was assigned to a plainclothes street crime unit of the 46th Precinct, but was in uniform when she was killed.
Neighbors said Familia was always smiling, would help others find parking spaces, and loved her job as a police officer. They said she also leaves behind three children, including a set of twins.
"I feel like my heart was breaking in half because she was such a wonderful person, a hardworking mother; a very responsible, very friendly lady," said Ines Sosa, another one of Familia's neighbors.
Police officers guarded the entrances Wednesday to Familia's apartment complex in Kingsbridge.
Even neighbors NY1 spoke with who did not know Familia said her death is still a huge loss to the community.
"To see kids lose their mom, that was the biggest thing that impacted me," one man said. "She was a mother and then an officer, of course, serving and helping our neighbors."
"Police officers are out their risking their lives for us, and for them to lose their lives, I feel very sorry for their family," another neighbor reflected.
A family and community that is now grieving one of New York's finest, a police officer and a mother whose life was cut short.