Neighbors were devastated to learn of the point-blank shooting of a Yonkers police officer Monday.

Officer Kayla Maher, 26, was shot in the face Monday night while investigating a suspicious vehicle in the area of Marshall Road and Ridge Drive. She is expected to make a full recovery.

Maher is a two-year veteran of the force and a member of Yonkers Police Department's 3rd Precinct.

She is a graduate of Lincoln High School in Yonkers and seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of her mother, a retired NYPD officer.

Neighbors say she is known for protecting the community she lived in, as well as for being a sweet woman who greets people with a smile.