Off-duty NYC correction officer fatally shot while sitting in car in Brooklyn
FLATLANDS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police are searching for the person who shot and killed an off-duty rookie New York City correction officer as she sat in a car in Brooklyn.
The 25-year-old woman, identified as Alastasia Bryan, was in the car at about 9 p.m. Sunday on East 73rd Street and Avenue L in the Flatlands section when a gunman drove up and shot her five times through the driver's side window.
Police have reviewed surveillance footage from the area and say it appears someone was waiting for Bryan nearby.
"She was at her mother's residence in the 63rd Precinct," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. "She came out and was sitting in the car making a phone call. We have a male, who appears to be waiting there in another car, get out of that car. This was described at first as a drive-by, it was not. Got out of that car and fired five rounds at her car, striking her and killing her. This male then got into a car and drove away."
Bryan was shot in the head and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
She had recently achieved a lifelong goal as she graduated from the city Correction Academy and had just started working at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island.
"My niece did school. Did school work and she go to correction officer, what she wanted to do and someone took that life," said the victim's aunt, Minthe Bryan.
So far, no arrests have been made, but police say the suspect fled in a grey or beige Honda Civic, last seen heading westbound on East 73rd Street. It is unclear if Bryan was targeted.
Her family is devastated.
"She liked to work hard as you know, she was a correction officer, she go on the right side, to do the right thing," said Bryan's uncle, Anthony Moore.
Community leaders will be holding a vigil for Bryan at 7 p.m. Monday in Brooklyn.
Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Elias Husamudeen released a statement:
"Tonight our correction family and the entire City of New York is shocked and grieving the horrific murder of one of the youngest members of New York City's Boldest, who was shot and killed by an unknown assailant while sitting in her car in Brooklyn. There are no words that can express the depth of this tragedy. The COBA will do everything we can to support the officer's family during this time and we will not rest until the assailant or assailants are brought to justice."
