The Massapequa community prepares for the vigil for fallen NYPD officer Jonathan Diller. NBC New York’s Greg Cergol reports.
Former President Donald Trump is planning to attend the wake of the NYPD officer who was killed during a Queens traffic stop earlier this week, the top NYPD spokesperson said.
The wake for NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, a three-year veteran of the department and a member of the specialized Community Response Team, will be held Thursday at Massapequa Funeral Home. His funeral mass will be held on Saturday at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church.
As wake and funeral preparations are underway to honor Diller, police are investigating whether the two men connected to Diller's deadly shooting during a Queens traffic stop may have been casing a store for a robbery in the moments leading up to the fatal gunfire exchange, according to a senior police official.
Charges are still pending against 34-year-old suspect Guy Rivera, who is believed to have shot Diller. A senior police official said they are investigating if Rivera and Lindy Jones, the driver of the vehicle, were eyeing a store or possible looking for someone in particular — before they were stopped for illegally parking at a bus stop Monday evening.
The focus on Rivera and Jones's activities leading up to the incident has intensified as new details emerge about the moments before the confrontation in Far Rockaway that resulted in the first killing of an NYPD officer in two years.
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Diller was with another officer near Mott Avenue and Beach 19th Street when the two approached the vehicle Rivera and Jones were in. Authorities said Rivera, the passenger in the car, refused to get out. Jones complied with the order and pressed the unlock button on the car door, but Rivera resisted by forcibly closing the door as Diller tried to open it, a senior police official said.
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The confrontation escalated and Rivera fired, with the bullet striking Diller in the torso underneath his bulletproof vest. Diller's partner returned fire, striking Rivera, who dropped his gun. An injured Diller then rushed to grab the firearm to prevent Rivera from getting it and firing again.
Diller was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died. He leaves behind a wife and an infant child.
Rivera — who has four prior arrests, including a gun charge — was shot in the back amid the frenzy. He remained hospitalized after undergoing surgery and is expected to survive.
Meanwhile, Jones, known to law enforcement for gun possession arrests and had been under electronic monitoring, was taken into custody at the scene. He said nothing to reporters on Wednesday as he was led out of the stationhouse before his arraignment in Queens.
Jones, of Edgemere, faces weapons charges after prosecutors said a loaded .9-mm pistol was found inside the glove compartment. He already faced a weapons charge from an incident less than a year before the deadly shooting, and was convicted of attempted murder more than 20 years ago.
Charges against Rivera were still pending.
The other officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of tinnitus. He was not injured in the gunfight.
In his three years with the NYPD, Diller had received four department recognitions.
