Jeff Sessions Condemns ‘Cowardly’ Murder of NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia

Attorney General Jeff Sessions responded Wednesday to yet another “assassination” of an on duty police officer in New York City.

Attorney General Sessions, who has made support for police a cornerstone of his agenda at the Department of Justice, issued a press release responding to Officer Familia’s death. “Officer Miosotis Familia proudly wore the badge for 12 years, serving her community and keeping the people of New York City safe,” he said. The release continued:

She was doing her duty, on patrol in the Bronx, when she was unjustly targeted and murdered in a cowardly, unprovoked attack. She will be remembered for her years of service and for the example of selflessness that she set protecting innocent people on our streets. This murder in cold blood is a tragedy, and sadly it is the latest in a troubling series of attacks on police officers over the past two years. These attacks must stop and we must honor the service of every law enforcement officer and the memory of those we have lost in the line of duty.

The 48-year-old mother of three and NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia was gunned down in the Bronx as she sat in her police car Wednesday morning. The killer, Alexander Bonds, shot Familia through her window without any apparent provocation or dispute.

The NYPD appears to be treating the homicide as yet another attack on police purely for being police, which is eerily reminiscent of the 2014 attack only miles away in Brooklyn that left two officers dead. Investigation in that case led police to believe the killer, Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley, sought to “avenge” the deaths of Black Lives Matter poster-children Michael Brown and Eric Gardner when he shot dead Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos as they sat in their patrol car.

NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill used similar language to describe Wednesday’s attack, tweeting that Officer Familia was “assassinated in an unprovoked attack on cops.”

Sessions cancelled an appearance in Philadelphia scheduled for Thursday at which he was to address law enforcement officials on sanctuary cities and combating violent crime. It is not clear if the attack in the Bronx was related to this cancellation.