Guy Rivera, the 34-year-old suspected of fatally shooting NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller during a traffic stop on Monday, is being charged with murder in connection with the officer’s death and attempted murder for allegedly turning the gun on his partner.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday that the ex-con recidivist would face charges of first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree attempted murder, and a slew of additional firearms charges.
Rivera is still in a hospital recovering from wounds of his own after Diller’s partner, Sgt. Sasha Rosen, returned fire. Prosecutors say the second cop wrestled with the suspect until his gun jammed at point blank in an explosion of violence in Far Rockaway, a neighborhood in Queens.
Diller and Sgt. Rosen approached a car that police say was illegally parked at a bus stop on Monday evening.
When they asked the occupants to step out of the vehicle, Rivera allegedly opened fire from the passenger’s seat.
The first bullet hit Diller in the stomach below his vest, police said.
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Rivera allegedly turned the gun on Rosen, who fought back and pushed the barrel away from his body, according to court documents. After a struggle, Rivera allegedly aimed at Rosen again and pulled the trigger – but the gun jammed.
Katz’s office said he would be arraigned as soon as medically possible.
Community members poured out Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil for Diller, the 31-year-old father of a one-year-old boy.
A funeral is scheduled for Saturday morning in his hometown of Massapequa Park, New York.
Wake services begin Thursday afternoon in nearby Massapequa, with thousands of officers and VIPs including former President Donald Trump expected to pay their respects.
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Two suspects are being charged in connection with his death – the alleged gunman and an ex-con who is not accused of violence but who police say had an illegal handgun with the serial number scratched off in his glove box.
Both men have lengthy rap sheets and prior felony convictions.
One has pending felony charges, and both obtained firearms they could not legally own.
Rivera has had 21 prior arrests, nine of them for felonies, and he recently got off parole.
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His pal Lindy Jones, 41, was convicted of attempted murder in 2002, served time in prison and was somehow out on the streets despite a pending felony firearms case from last year, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
He racked up new weapons charges after police served the search warrant on his Kia Soul.
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Hundreds of police officers packed the courthouse during his arraignment Wednesday.
Diller died at Jamaica Hospital in Queens.
He had a wife and a one-year-old son.
A GoFundMe campaign organized on behalf of his family raised more than half a million dollars from nearly 8,000 donors as of Thursday afternoon.