Thousands of police officers and their supporters stand outside of a Bronx church during the funeral for NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia, who was shot and killed last week in what police have called ‘an unprovoked attack’ in the Bronx on July 11, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, BRONX, NY, Weds. July 12, 2017: Thousands, including officers from the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, were among those bidding adieu on Tuesday July 11, 2017 to NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia, who was ambushed and shot to death last Wednesday, July 5, 2017 in the Bronx.
Police officers from Familia’s parents hometown of the Dominican Republic travelled to New York City to join thousands of NYPD officers and other cops from around the world at the funeral for the fallen 12-year veteran of the department on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
The DR cops representing the country’s police department folded a Dominican flag and carried it inside the World Changers Church in the Fordham section of the Bronx where family, friends and New York City top cops and officials gathered to say a final goodbye.
Inside the church many wept openly as the officer’s eldest child remembered her mother as a “protector, defender, guidance counselor, spiritual advisor, philosopher, philanthropist, theorist, and mother.”
Her son Peter, said she put on a uniform because “she was brave enough to do it.”
“She loved us,” he said. “She wanted to sacrifice for us, so she did it.”
As her casket was brought out covered in the flag of the NYPD, police helicopters flew overhead in formation and thousands of police officers saluted and many mourners gathered waved flags from both the US and the Dominican Republic.
The commanding officer of the 46th Precinct, Inspector Philip P. Rivera, called on the city to make the Grand Concourse a Canyon of Heroes in honor of the officer he called “Mio.”
“When I’m faced with tough decisions, I’ll ask myself: What would Mio do?,” he told her family.
Even as NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill asked during an emotional speech: “So where are the demonstrations for this single mom who cared for her elderly mom and her own three children? There is anger and sorrow, but why is there no outrage?.”
He promoted Officer Familia, 48, to detective posthumously. She is survived by a 20-year-old daughter Genesis Villella, and twins Delilah and Peter Vega, aged 12 as well as her mother Adriana Valoy and 9 brothers and sisters.
Alexander Bonds ambushed Familia as she sat in her command post vehicle after midnight on July 5, police said. He fired a single shot through the window. She had been writing in her memo book and never saw him coming. The daughter of immigrants was rushed to a Bronx hospital where she died.
Meanwhile, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced that it was donating $100,000 to Familia’s family
and asked for additional donations to help support them. To make a donation, click here.
