THANK YOU, N.Y.
Slain cop’s mom awed by city’s love Readers boost News fund to $167G
IN THE DAYS after her death, NYPD hero Miosotis Familia achieved her lifelong dream.
“Ever since she was at JFK High School, she wanted to be a detective,” her mother Adriana Valoy told the Daily News about her murdered youngest child. “I told her to go for it.”
Familia, 48, was posthumously promoted to detective at a funeral Tuesday where her 87-year-old mom found the strength to go forward despite her crushing loss.
“I want to thank all of New York for the outpouring of love and support,” Valoy said. “The police proved their brotherhood . . . The funeral carried me through this. I am so grateful for the tribute to my daughter.”
More than 25,000 fellow officers from 85 different departments filled a Bronx church and the streets outside for the slain officer’s heartbreaking send-off.
The mom said her emotions remain raw as she adjusts to life without Miosotis.
“A mother knows her child’s pain, even if it’s just a bruise,” she told The News. “My pain is very deep.”
Valoy recalled how Familia was the rock of a large family that included her own three kids and nine siblings. Valoy moved in with Familia 23 years ago — and never left.
“She loved to help people and she was very happy,” the Spanish-speaking mom said through a translator. “Everything with her was laughter. She was an inspiration to all her brothers and sisters.
“She was a super mother,” Valoy continued. “She sacrificed everything for her children.”
That was particularly true of one brother whose hopes of joining the NYPD were dashed by his asthma.
“He lived through her,” Valoy said.
Familia, working a July 5 midnight tour, was executed while sitting in an NYPD mobile command vehicle by a cop-hating gunman with a history of mental health issues. Alexander Bonds, the 34-year-old gunman, was killed by police near the murder scene in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx.
Valoy said the killer’s fate was now in the hands of a higher power.
“Some people play being crazy,” she said. “I want God to judge him. I’ll let God be the judge.”
News of the assassination arrived with a 2 a.m. phone call. There was a cop on the other end.
“The officer said that my daughter was hurt and she was in the hospital,” Valoy said. “I called all the brothers and sisters. We didn’t get the news (about her dying) until later.”
Familia, shot once in the head around 12:30 a.m., died three hours later.
Valoy, a retired packing factory worker, is the grandmother of 22, with 13 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
She helped Miosotis raise her three kids, and the daughter helped mom after a diagnosis of oral cancer five years ago.
“My daughter took me to all my appointments,” she recalled. “She always took care of me. She and her brothers and sisters got me through it.”
Valoy offered kind words for The News’ fund-raising efforts on behalf of the three Familia children: Genesis, 20, and 12-year-old twins Peter and Delilah.
The fund has already raised more than $167,000 for Miosotis’ kids.
“I’m so appreciative of the Daily News fund,” said Valoy. “It means her children will be taken care of. God willing, my daughter’s dream of getting an education (for the kids) will be fulfilled.”
Valoy will never forget her final moments with Miosoitis, around 11:30 p.m. on July 4 as she rushed out for her last shift on a dangerous Bronx block.
“I said, ‘God bless you, God protect you,’ ” she recounted. “I kept the door open watching her leave. We always said goodbye at the door. She said, ‘Ma, close the door already.’
“But I held it open because I wanted to watch her go. That’s how I’ll always remember her.”