The rainy weather matched the mood on Long Island as law enforcement from around the U.S. paid their respects to NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, killed in the line of duty earlier in the week. Officers with heavy hearts lined up for the wake in Massapequa Park, which was visited by former President Trump, who offered his condolences at the family’s request. NBC New York’s Greg Cergol reports.
Hundreds of family, friends and colleagues gathered on a rainy Thursday to mourn NYPD officer Jonathan Diller, a decorated member of the department who was shot and killed during a Queens traffic stop earlier this week.
Mayor Eric Adams, along with former President Donald Trump, were among those in attendance at Massapequa Funeral Home on Long Island in the afternoon. A funeral Mass for the 31-year-old Diller, a three-year NYPD veteran and new father, will be held Saturday morning at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church.
A Trump campaign spokesperson says the Queens-born Republican was "moved by the invitation" to attend Diller's memorial. A spokesperson for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said only that Blakeman discussed Trump's attendance with the former president earlier this week. The spokesperson said the Diller family was involved.
The former president was seen shaking hands with mourners as he headed inside the funeral home for the viewing.
After visiting in the funeral home with Diller's family, Trump spoke outside to reporters with about a dozen local police officers, half in patrol uniforms, half in tactical gear, forming as a backdrop behind him. One officer standing in front held his rifle across his chest.
Trump, holding an umbrella, called Diller’s killing “such a sad, sad event, such a horrible thing.”
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“The police are the greatest people we have. There’s nothing and there’s nobody like them. And this should never happen,” Trump said.
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He spoke about Diller’s wife and young son, saying he “doesn’t know how his life has been changed.”
“We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently. This is not working. This is happening too often," Trump said.
After his brief remarks, he repeated himself as he walked away toward his motorcade and added: “We’ve got to toughen it up.”
He did not elaborate.
Trump's visit coincides with a major Democratic fundraiser in Manhattan Thursday headlined by President Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Adams said Thursday morning that Biden called to offer his condolences to the slain officer's family, and that he would relay the message to the family. New York Kathy Hochul is expected to to attend a wake for Diller on Friday.
Trump has repeatedly raised the issue of crime in the Big Apple on the campaign trail and ahead of his own hush-money criminal trial in Manhattan. In a social media post Tuesday, he noted police said Diller's alleged shooter, Guy Rivera, had numerous prior arrests, declaring that he “NEVER should have been let back out on the streets."
Rivera, who is believed to have shot the 31-year-old Diller, was charged Thursday with murder of a police officer, murder with intent, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Attorney information for him wasn't immediately available.
He has been hospitalized after suffering a gunshot wound to the back during the stop. A senior police official said they are investigating if Rivera and Lindy Jones, the driver of the vehicle, were eyeing a store or possibly 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.
Diller, who received four NYPD recognitions in his three years with the department, is survived by his wife, Stephanie, and 1-year-old son, Ryan.
