Hundreds of mourners waited in the afternoon sun outside World Changers Church in the Bronx on Monday for the wake of Officer Miosotis Familia. She was shot without warning last week by a stranger as she sat in a mobile command unit.

The line down Grand Concourse near 187th Street was thick well before the church opened to the public. A heavy police presence monitored the crowd; numerous law enforcement officers — from the NYPD, from out of state and from the New York City Fire Department — were also among the mourners. 

Tony Martinez was a classmate of Familia's at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx. He took the day off of work to attend the wake and hoped to be able to do the same for the funeral on Tuesday.

"She was such a beautiful soul," said Martinez. "She was very community-oriented."

Martinez spoke of Familia's liveliness and smile. He said he was shocked when he heard how she had been killed: shot in the head in close range while on duty for the 46th precinct. Police say the man who shot her through the window of her vehicle, Alexander Bonds, had been briefly treated for mental illness and harbored animus toward the NYPD. 

Many who attended Familia's wake on Monday had never met her directly, but felt compelled to pay their respects. 

"This was a person that was a mother first, and her job was second. And I'm a mother first," said Denise McFadden, a security guard, who said she also grew up in the neighborhood. 

Others echoed Familia's devotion to her three children, but Stephen Taylor, who lives in the Melrose section of the Bronx, also called out Familia's commitment to the Bronx. He did not know Familia, but he said he respected that she chose to work in a dangerous part of the borough.

"I'm sure she could have transferred anywhere else," reflected Taylor. "You know, she was a veteran. She could have went to downtown Manhattan, somewhere much safer. But she chose to stay here. Wow. I mean, how many people do that?"

As the line grew longer, a man handed out free bottles of water to police officers waiting to get into the church — of whom there were many. 

"It's just the way that life is when it comes to law enforcement," said Ross Zheleznyak, an NYPD officer with the Department of Homeless Services, speaking of solidarity with fellow officers. 

"It's a must," he said. "I would say it's a must for anybody who does this job to come and pay respects."