The veteran NYPD officer who was ambushed and killed while in her patrol vehicle early Wednesday was a mother of three who had recently returned to work following an injury.

Officer Miosotis Familia, 48, had been out sick with a leg injury and only returned to full duty last month at the 46th Precinct, where she worked the midnight shift, sources told the New York Post.

Police union boss Patrick Lynch honored Familia as a hero Wednesday morning.

“Police officer Miosotis Familia, the mother of three, gave her life protecting a neighborhood that had been plagued by gang gun violence. Fully knowing the dangers that she faced, she suited up in uniform everyday and stood tall against those who threaten and terrorize the good folks of the Bronx,” the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said in a statement.