About 50 people, including elected and police officials sorrowfully gathered on the steps of the 66th precinct in Borough Park today in a vigil to mourn the tragic and senseless shooting death of New York City Police Officer Police Officer Miosotis Familia.
Familia, 48, a mother of three and a twelve-year veteran working out of the 46th Precinct in the Bronx, was shot in the head early Wednesday in by a man who the police say fired a revolver into her parked police vehicle in the Bronx.
Police chased and shot dead the shooting suspect, Alexander Bonds, and the revolver used to kill Familia was recovered. Bonds had both a violent criminal rap sheet and psychological problems, having recently been released from a mental hospital.
Those in attendance at the vigil also showed solidarity with the NYPD and outrage at what they perceived as a hate crime.
“It is not acceptable to hate on people just for who they are,” said City Councilman David Greenfield (D-Borough Park, Bensonhust, Midwood). “We should be outraged at the fact that a police officer was shot simply for being a police officer.”
Both Greenfield and Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park) blamed much of the recent violence against police on anti-police rhetoric and violence.
“When you indulge in anti-police rhetoric, you can be responsible for tragedy that may happen,” said Hikind. “Words are powerful. Words matter.”
Community Board 12 District Manager Barry Spitzer reminded the crowd that two and a half years ago, the precinct came together after the deaths of NYPD officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were killed in December 2014 while on patrol in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Both incidents involved the gunmen shooting and killing the officers who were on duty and sitting in their patrol cars without specific cause.
“This is not only in NYC. This is an epidemic in the entire nation,” said Spitzer. “We cannot ignore that hateful rhetoric plays a part.”
This hateful rhetoric comes about in social media which Spitzer said has become mainstream and part of a culture of hatred, he said.
According to investigators, Bonds had posted an anti-police rant as Facebook video in September.
Also in attendance were several volunteer neighborhood patrols including
Other patrol groups including Boro Park Shomrim and the Brooklyn Asian Safety Patrol (BACOP) were also in attendance to show support.
But the people who mourned the most were the rank and file of the 66th Precinct, who lost one of their brethren in a senseless killing.
“Sometimes we don’t show it. Sometimes we have very stoic faces,” said Captain David Wall, commanding officer of the 66th Precinct. “But we hurt like everyone else.”
