Killed NYPD Cop Was 'Fighter,' Mother of 3

"She was a fighter, she was tough—and that was the job for her," Miosotis Familia's nephew tells the New York Times. Family, friends, and coworkers are mourning the loss of the NYPD officer and Bronx native who was fatally shot early Wednesday only a few miles from her home. A longtime friend says Familia grew up during the crack epidemic, and that made her want to help people. The New York Daily News reports Familia spent five years as a nurse at New York University Hospital and another two years at the American Red Cross before joining the NYPD 12 years ago. “Fully knowing the dangers that she faced, she suited up in uniform every day and stood tall against those who threaten and terrorize the good folks of the Bronx,” the head of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association says.

Familia didn't just take care of the citizens of New York, she also raised three children while caring for her elderly mother. “There is not one single negative thing that anyone can say about her,” the president of the Dominican Officers Association says. “That’s not because of her death—that’s just her nature." Familia was shot and killed while sitting in a police vehicle. It's unclear why she was shot, and she didn't know the shooter, who was killed by police a short time later. Jeff Sessions says Familia's death is the "latest in a troubling series of attacks on police officers over the past two years," the Washington Post reports. The attorney general says the 48-year-old officer was "unjustly targeted and murdered in a cowardly, unprovoked attack." (More NYPD stories.)