NYPD woman officer shot dead in unprovoked attack
A GUNMAN shot dead a New York City policewoman in an unprovoked attack early yesterday in the city’s Bronx borough, then was himself shot dead by police as he ran from the scene.
The officer, Miosotis Familia, 48, a 12-year veteran, had been shot as she sat in a mobile command truck with her partner, New York police said.
The suspect fired through the vehicle’s window, hitting Familia in the head.
“It is clear that this was an unprovoked direct attack on police officers who were assigned to keep the people of this city safe,” police commissioner James O’Neill said.
The suspect, Alexander Bonds, 34, of the Bronx borough, was on parole for a robbery in Syracuse, New York, another police source said.
Many police officers lined the street outside Saint Barnabas Hospital, where Familia was pronounced dead, and saluted as an ambulance later drove her body to New York’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
Officers had chased the assailant on foot for a block before he drew a revolver and they shot him, the police department said.
A bystander was wounded and was in stable condition at a hospital.
A total of 24 US law enforcement officers have been killed by gunfire so far this year, a 20% increase from the same period last year.
Familia is the eighth New York City police officer shot dead in the line of duty over the last five years. Her shooting was a chilling reminder of the December 2014 ambush of two New York City police officers.
They were slain as they sat in a patrol car in Brooklyn, by a man who travelled to the city from Baltimore after pledging to kill police officers.
The deaths of the two officers stoked tensions between the City Hall, the police department and reform-minded protesters – who had voted New York mayor Bill de Blasio into office – turning out in large numbers.