FORDHAM — An ex-con fatally shot a 12-year NYPD veteran in an "unprovoked attack" as she sat in a marked command vehicle in The Bronx Wednesday morning, officials said.
Alexander Bonds, 34, who was twice convicted of robbery and previously railed against law enforcement in a Facebook video, stalked up to the open window of the large NYPD vehicle and fired his silver revolver, hitting Miosotis Familia, 48, in the head before fleeing the scene as her partner radioed for backup near the corner of Morris Avenue and East 183rd Street about 12:30 a.m., officials said.
"Based on what we know right now, this was an unprovoked attack against police officers who work to keep this great city safe," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said.
Familia, the mother of three, was transported to Saint Barnabas Hospital where she died of her wounds, police said.
Responding officers found Bonds, who was on parole for a robbery in Syracuse from 2005, a block away running on Morris Avenue where they confronted him and he drew a revolver, according to O'Neill. The officers fatally shot him and a silver revolver was recovered at the scene.
Investigators recovered a silver revolver Alexander Bonds used to fatally shoot NYPD officer Miosotis Familia Wednesday morning, officials said. (NYPD)
"Cops were running, running, running on every block. I looked down and saw a whole crowd," said Brenda Moorer, 51, who lives near the shooting scene.
Witnesses heard the police salvo and saw responders carrying Bonds away in "in a bag," according to Moorer.
"I heard about six shots. Somebody yelled, 'Get out! Let's go!'" said Indhira Almonte, 24, who lives nearby.
"It was scary," Almonte added.
A bystander was also hit in the stomach as police opened fire on the suspect, and was listed in stable condition, a police spokesman said.
Bonds, who the NYPD said lived in Manhattan, has a criminal history stretching back to 2000, when he was arrested for marijuana possession in Queens, officials said.
Then, in May and July 2001, he was arrested for selling drugs at the age of 19, Bronx prosecutors said. He pleaded the May charge down to disorderly conduct, officials said.
He was arrested for an assault in Queens in 2001, but pleaded down to obstruction of governmental administration as a youthful offender, officials said.
The next year he was busted for selling drugs in March and then again in April, this time near a school, Bronx prosecutors said. He was indicted for the April arrest and pleaded guilty, officials said.
Bonds was supposed to complete a drug program, but didn't and was instead sentenced in March 2004 to time behind bars until October of that year, officials said.
Bonds was cuffed in 2005 for fare beating, but pleaded guilty to trespassing, prosecutors said.
He was arrested again in 2005 for robbery in Syracuse, according to police there who said records for that incident are sealed. He was convicted on that robbery in 2006 and was behind bars until May 2013 when he was paroled, records show.
Bonds was still on parole when he gunned down Familia, records show.
In September 2016, Bonds posted a rambling 11-minute Facebook Live video on his page in which he railed against prison guards' treatment of inmates and seemed to warn police against interacting with him.
"I’m not playing, Mr. Officer. I don’t care about 100 police watching this s--t. You see this face? You see this face with anything? Leave it alone. Trust and believe. I got broken ribs for a reason, son. We’re gonna scrape We gotta do something. We can’t be dying for free. We can’t be getting raped for free," Bonds said.
Neighbors at his Longwood home were generally wary of him.
"I'd seen him a couple times before. I fear God. I don't fear no man, but he looked suspicious," said Alvaro Kidd, 33, who lives a few doors down.
Kidd saw Bonds the night of the shooting about 7:30 p.m., he said.
"He was on the corner with some other people, like seven or eight of them. I don't know if they were drinking or what, but they didn't look like they were up to any good," Kidd added.
Family couldn't say what spurred Bonds to assassinate Familia.
"What triggered him and what startled him and created this whole situation, I'm not aware of that," said Bonds' uncle, Jamel Bailey, who visited his home after the shooting.
"I'm trying to find out what's going on. It's overwhelming for me right now," Bailey added.
Bonds relatives extended their condolences to Familia's family.
"I feel for the family. My heart goes out to the family," Bailey said.
It wasn't immediately clear if Bonds had any previous interactions with Familia, who Fordham residents said was a friendly face in the neighborhood.
"She was a very sweet lady. She always greeted us. She was a beautiful police officer. I would've been the last person to say hello to her. I just feel terrible," Moorer said.
Police hovered around her Kingsbridge Heights apartment building where her grieving family gathered.
"She was an excellent woman," her brother-in-law Carlos Corporan said. "She was an excellent woman. The family is devastated."
"[Her] mom is incredibly heartbroken," said family friend Isabel Roman.
Politicians and police leaders visited Saint Barnabas Hospital after Familia's death to express their support for her family and the NYPD.
“[Familia] gave her life protecting a neighborhood that had been plagued by gang gun violence," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch said.
"Fully knowing the dangers that she faced, she suited up in uniform everyday and stood tall against those who threaten and terrorize the good folks of the Bronx," Lynch added.
Lynch urged a stop to violence against police officers and for those who see threats to members of service to report it to authorities.
"As we mourn her death and support her family, friends and colleagues, we ask for your help. Violence against police officer cannot stand. When you see or hear someone making threats against NYC police officers you need to let us know, you need to be our eyes and ears.”
Familia's killing closely resembled the 2014 assassinations of officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos who were sitting in their police car when Ismaayil Brinsley came up and shot them.
Brinsley then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide after fatally shooting the officers.
With reporting by Trevor Kapp, Teddy Grant, Noah Hurowitz, Aidan Gardiner, Janon Fisher and Amy Langfield.
