New York –
New York City Police Department detective Miosotis Familia, a single mother of three, was assassinated while serving her duty seven years ago.
Although she was in a marked mobile command unit in the Bronx when she was shot.
On Friday, a memorial service was held at the Bronx police station where she had worked before.
The city was her ultimate sacrifice. Genesis Villella has proclaimed her mother to be a hero.
Everything about that terrible day comes flooding back to her.
“Sometime around ten o’clock as the clock struck midnight. She walked into my bedroom and announced, “I’m going to work now.” “I love you.” She kissed and hugged me before returning to my doorway; for a moment, we simply exchanged looks, Villella said.
Shortly after that, on July 5th, 2017, the 12-year NYPD veteran was fatally shot.
“It makes for us hard to celebrate [the 4th], because it never feels appropriate knowing that at the end of the day, after midnight, she’d be killed,” according to Villella.
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Even though she was just 20 years old, Villella was left to fend for herself and her twin siblings. She took on the role of their legal guardian.
“I’m eternally grateful for my sister Genesis for putting her life on hold and sacrificing her youth and her 20s to raise me and Delilah as a parent,” the brother of Genesis, Peter Vega, stated.
According to Rep. Ritchie Torres, “Miosotis was the first female NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty since 9/11.”
Assistant Chief Benjamin Gurley of the New York Police Department remarked, “She always gave great advice and a helping hand when needed, and she laughed and smiled continuously.”
The funeral took place in front of Familia’s former workplace, the 46th Precinct in the Bronx, which is also the site of a mural of her.
Take a stand for the family benefit bill
Three children of Familia are pleading with lawmakers and law enforcement to assist them in passing a bill that would allow them to inherit their mother’s pension.
The existing legislation states that children of single-parent police officers who die on the job are only eligible for benefits until the age of 23 and only if they are at least enrolled in college.
“The bill makes it so that the surviving children — the orphans who have no one, who have no one, are able to have something there legislatively that will allow us to access the death benefits,” Villella pointed out.
When my mom was killed, I had no choice but to leave college and take care of our kids… It would have been nice if my mom could have been here to see the students obtain their diplomas as they crossed the stage.
The law must be approved by both the Senate and the Assembly in Albany; however, the legislative session came to a close in June.
The family hopes the bill is passed in the next session, in January.