Names of fallen NYPD officers added to memorial wall at police headquarters
LOWER MANHATTAN, New York City (WABC) -- There was a somber salute Friday to the police officers who recently died in the line of duty.
Detective Miosotis Familia, who was killed last July in the Bronx, and Detective Steve McDonald, who died last January, now have their names inscribed at the Hall of Heroes at police headquarters in Lower Manhattan.
"It's a little painful because it's literally set in stone, what's happened to her," Familia's daughter Genesis Villela said.
The names are set in stone in the lobby of One Police Plaza, joining the names of other NYPD officers who have died in the line of duty since 1849.
"It brings me joy to know that her legacy will be remembered forever, along with other people who have laid down their lives for New York," Villela said. "It's very comforting knowing that other people understand that, and that other people can relate to the kind of pain that I feel."
Perhaps the only comfort for Familia's the three young, brave children is that every single person in attendance at the police memorial day event all have a broken hearts too.
"We are now here to perform a solemn task, to add the names of 27 more great New Yorkers," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Three of them were line of duty deaths, while the other 24 were NYPD officers who have recently died from 9/11 related illnesses.
"They are a reminder that the tragedy of September 11th has not ended for us or for our city," Police Commissioner James O'Neill said.
McDonald, a police officer best known for forgiving a teenage gunman who left him paralyzed in 1986, was an international voice for peace and a source of support for other wounded police officers.
He was on patrol on July 12, 1986, when he spotted bicycle thief Shavod "Buddha" Jones and two other teenagers in Central Park. When he moved to frisk one of them, the 15-year-old Jones shot McDonald three times, with one bullet piercing the officer's spinal column and leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.
"To have his name up there is beautiful," wife Patti Ann McDonald said. "To walk into this building and see his name in years to come is something very special."
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