NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s Shooting Trial

The suspect accused of fatally shooting NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller seemed to be smiling in body camera footage shortly after the incident, according to testimony from Diller’s colleagues.

During a court session in Queens, NYPD Detective Derval White shared his experience of witnessing what he described as a senseless shooting during a traffic stop in March 2024. He recounted Diller’s last moments in disturbing detail.

“He’s on his back, motionless,” White explained. “I heard him say, ‘I got shot.’ I checked for a gunshot wound, rolled him back and forth, and found a bullet wound above his stomach.”

In court, body camera video showed the efforts of officers trying to revive Diller right after the shooting. The footage also depicted a handcuffed man, reportedly smiling, as he fell to the ground.

Diller, a 31-year-old father, was responding to a suspicious vehicle outside a T-Mobile store in Far Rockaway when Guy Rivera, 35, sitting in the passenger seat, allegedly fired three shots, hitting him in the stomach.

Rivera, who has a lengthy criminal record with nearly 20 arrests, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder after prosecutors accused him of killing Diller.

Assistant District Attorney Ken Zawistowski described the tragic encounter during his opening statements, stating, “He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Officer Diller.”

Continuing, he detailed the severity of Diller’s injuries: “He shot Officer Diller while he was under his bulletproof vest, tearing out his intestines and severing one of the most vital arteries in the body.”