Jonathan Diller, NYPD officer killed in Queens, leaves behind wife, 1-year-old
QUEENS - Jonathan Diller, the NYPD officer shot and killed during a traffic stop in Queens, leaves behind a wife and a one-year-old son "who will now grow up without his father."
A vigil will be held at Brady Park in Massapequa Park on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Visitation will be held on Thursday and Friday. Diller’s funeral is planned for Saturday morning.
"You were a good man and a great father whose shoes can never be filled," Diller's brother-in-law, Jonathan McAuley, who is also a cop posted to Facebook, FOX 5 NY's Jodi Goldberg confirmed. He also shared a photo with what appears to be Diller's son wearing a shirt that reads, "My Daddy's life matters."
McAuley promised to look after Diller’s son as if he were his own.
Diller grew up in Franklin Square and later moved to Massapequa Park.
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"It’s a big extended family and our hearts go out to the NYPD family," Danny Pearl, Mayor of the Village of Massapequa Park said. "It’s a tremendous loss."
A neighbor spent Tuesday tying blue bows to the porches of those who lived near Diller.
"I’m getting more emotional," James Bonilla said. "It’ll be a sad moment in the neighborhood. It’ll be one less person at the block party."
Bonilla and Naomi Sanchez already have a blue ribbon hanging from the front door post of their home. Their son is a Nassau police officer.
"Every day that my son goes to work I pray cause you know he’s going to work and you never know if he’s coming back," Sanchez said.
For Laurie Logan, making some of the bows being used to remember Diller are a labor of love.
"It's something you have to do," Logan said. "It's the only thing I can do."
Diller's murder in Far Rockaway on Monday marks the first slaying of an NYPD officer in two years.
"We lost one of our sons today, and it is extremely painful," NYC Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference. "It is extremely painful."
Diller, 31, was based at the 105th Precinct Satellite in Rosedale, Queens, near the Long Island border, where he resided. The shooting scene is around 4.5 miles from where he worked.
He had served with the NYPD for three years, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said in a tweet. Diller made more than 70 arrests during his short career, sources tell FOX 5 NY.
Fellow officers escorted Diller's flag-draped from Jamaica Hospital on Monday night.
"Surrounded by family and the men and women in blue, he was walked out honorably, to many tears and salutes from Jamaica Hospital. What started out as an everyday car stop, instantly became a moment where so many lives would be turned upside down," Diller's brother-in-law, who goes by Jonny Mac on Facebook, posted.
Timeline: How Diller's murder unfolded?
The shooting happened just before 6 p.m. in Far Rockaway, Queens, after Diller and his partner encountered a vehicle illegally parked at a bus stop.
According to police, as the pair approached the vehicle, a man inside shot Diller below his bullet-proof vest, Caban said. Diller’s partner returned fire and wounded the suspected shooter, who was brought to a hospital.
Diller was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center but could not be saved, officials said.
The police department’s chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, said Diller and his partner had initially tried to order the vehicle's driver and passenger out of the car, which was stopped on a busy but narrow street in a bustling commercial district.
"He was asked to leave the car," Kenny said of the person who pulled the gun. "He was given a lawful order numerous times to step out of the car. He refused. And when the officers took him out of the car, rather than stepping out of the car, he shot our officer."
Kenny said Diller "stayed in the fight" after being wounded and tried to disarm the shooter, whose name was not immediately released by police.
"The gun hit the ground. And as the perpetrator was still reaching for it, this cop was able to grab it, although he was still shot," Kenny said.
The slaying was the first of an NYPD officer since 2022 when two officers – Wilbert Mora, 27, and Jason Rivera, 22 – were ambushed in a Harlem apartment building after responding to a domestic disturbance call.
Who is the shooter?
The gunman has been identified as 34-year-old Guy Rivera.
According to Mayor Eric Adams, Rivera has more than 20 prior arrests.
Charges against him are pending and Rivera remains in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital.
What are officials saying?
Adams said he met with Diller’s grieving widow. He called the shooting a "senseless act of violence."
"Can I say it any clearer? It is the good guys against the bad guys," he said. "And these bad guys are violent. They carry guns. And the symbol of our public safety, which is that police uniform, they have a total disregard for."
Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association of New York, expressed anger over the shooting.
"These attacks on New York City police officers have to end right now," he said. "We have a family upstairs that’s devastated. We have police officers in this hallway who lost a brother. It has to end now."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.