Memorial marks 7 years since Det. Miosotis Familia shot dead. Her family is fighting to change a law.

NEW YORK - It has been seven years since NYPD Detective Miosotis Familia, a single mother of three, was killed in the line of duty. 

She was gunned down while sitting in a marked mobile command unit in the Bronx. 

Friday, a memorial was held at the Bronx precinct she worked. 

"She died for this city. My mom is a hero," Genesis Villella said. 

She remembers the tragic day as if it was yesterday. 

"It was, like, 10 o'clock at night. She came into my bedroom and she said, 'I'm going to work now. I love you.' She gave me a hug and a kiss, and then she went back into my doorway, and we just looked at each other for a minute," Villella said. 

Hours later, on July 5th, 2017, the 12-year veteran of the NYPD was shot to death. 

"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," Villella said. 

Villella, who was just 20 years old at the time, was forced to raise her twin siblings on her own. She became 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," Genesis's brother, Peter Vega, said. 

"Miosotis was the first female NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty since 9/11," Rep. Ritchie Torres said. 

"She always gave great advice and a helping hand when needed, and she laughed and smiled continuously," NYPD Assistant Chief Benjamin Gurley said.   

The memorial was held outside the 46th Precinct in the Bronx, where Familia worked and where a mural of her is painted. 

Fight to pass legislation to grant family benefits

Familia's three children are asking law enforcement and lawmakers to help them pass legislation that would grant them their mother's pension. Under the current law, children of single parent cops who die on the job are not entitled to the benefits for life, only until 23 and only if they are 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," said Villella. "When my mom was killed, I had to drop out of college so I could raise the kids ... My mom should have been standing next to me to watch the kids walk across the stage and receive their diploma."

The bill needs to pass the Senate and Assembly in Albany, but the legislative session ended in June.

The family hopes the bill is passed in the next session, in January.