Police are investigating whether the two men connected to the deadly shooting of a NYPD officer 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 NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, a three-year veteran of the department and a member of the specialized Community Response Team. 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.
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.
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. Amid a sea of first responders lining the streets, his body was taken Tuesday evening from the medical examiner's office in Manhattan to Long Island, where wake and funeral services will be held Friday and Saturday.
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Rivera — who has four prior arrests, including a gun charge — was shot in the back amid the frenzy. He underwent surgery Tuesday at Jamaica Hospital and is expected to survive. He had a shiv hidden on his body at the time of the shooting, according to a senior police official, but it did not exceed legal size limits.
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Jones, known to law enforcement for gun possession arrests and had been under electronic monitoring, was taken into custody at the scene. He was being held at the 101st stationhouse.
Charges against both men were still pending.
The other officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of tinnitus. He was not injured in the gunfight.
"These are bad people who are doing bad things to good people," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. "This is a difficult moment there will be plenty of time for anger grief and for processing pain but right now our prayers are with our fallen officer's family."
Video of the scene shows a car with an apparent bullet hole in the passenger side door. Officers recovered a firearm at the scene. The shooting took place right outside of City Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers' office.
In his three years with the NYPD, Diller had received four department recognitions.
