A 31-year-old New York City police officer was shot and killed by a career criminal in a “senseless act of violence” during a traffic stop in Queens on Monday night, officials and law enforcement officials said.
Officer Jonathan Diller, the married father of a 1-year-old boy, was stabbed in the stomach after police tried to remove the suspect, identified as Guy Rivera, from the passenger seat of his car near 19-19 Mott Avenue. I was shot. Far Rockaway, according to the NYPD and sources.
Witness Deon Peters said Diller, who is in his third year on the force, fell to the ground and yelled, “I got shot,” after the suspect fired.
“He was moving and he was saying, ‘I hit it, I hit it!’ We provide the location and everything else,” Peters said. “As if he were crying, really crying.”
Diller was taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, where he was later pronounced dead.
“Tonight, this city lost a hero, a wife lost a husband, and a young child lost a father,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban wrote in X. The work Officer Jonathan Diller does every day to make this city a safer place will never be forgotten.
“Our prayers are with his family, loved ones, and our brothers and sisters in blue.”
The tragic shooting occurred around 5:50 p.m. after officers approached a vehicle parked in front of a bus stop.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney said at a news conference that Rivera “was asked to exit the vehicle and refused multiple lawful orders to exit the vehicle.”
“And when the officers took him out of the car, instead of getting out of the car, he shot our officers,” Kenney said.
The bullet struck Diller under his police vest, authorities said.
Even after Diller was shot, Long Island residents heroically grabbed the weapon from the shooter as it fell to the ground, Kenney said.
Officials said Diller’s partner returned fire, hitting Rivera, who has been arrested 21 times, in the back.
The suspect was also taken to Jamaica Hospital, but police said his condition was not immediately known.
“Tonight we lost Jonathan,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a somber news conference at Jamaica Hospital.
“I couldn’t be more clear. It’s a war of good guys against bad guys, and bad guys are violent,” he added, calling the shooting a “senseless act of violence.”
Both Rivera and the driver of the car, identified by sources as 41-year-old Lindy Jones, had criminal histories, records and sources said.
Rivera served five years for possession of a controlled substance and was last released from a New York prison in 2021, according to state records. His parole in the case ended last year.
Records show the suspect served time in prison for first-degree assault starting in 2011 and was later released in 2014.
Meanwhile, officials said Monday night that Jones was on the street after being arrested on gun charges last April.
He was arrested on April 17, 2023, after he was allegedly found in possession of a loaded firearm at the same police station where the shooting occurred, officials said.
Officials said he was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and other related charges.
“This is not a criminal problem, this is what we call a repeat offender problem,” Adams said of Jones’ arrest in April 2023. “The same bad people do bad things to good people.”
Records show Jones has been arrested 14 times and was convicted of attempted murder and robbery in 2003. He served 10 years in prison and was released in 2013.
Charges against Mr. Rivera and Mr. Jones were not announced late Monday night.
Kenney said both men have ties to people in Queens, but their relationship is still under investigation.
Witness Peters said police were coming from all directions in the aftermath of the shooting.
“I had never seen anything like it in my life,” he said. “I hope I never see it again.”
PBA President Patrick Hendry condemned the continued violence against police officers on the city’s streets and hailed Diller as a hero.
“Our hero, a police officer, confronted this dangerous man knowing he was in danger and knowing he had a family waiting for him at home. ” said Hendry. “But he did it to protect the people of this city. We need all New Yorkers to stand with this family.”
Diller was a member of the Southern Queens Patrol District Community Response Team.
“These attacks on New York City police officers must stop now,” the union president said. “I have a family upstairs right now who are devastated. There is a police officer in this hallway who lost a brother. It has to end now.”
