NYC, NYPD and family in mourning after Officer Jonathan Diller is fatally shot at Queens traffic stop

NEW YORK – New York Metropolis, the NYPD and the household of Officer Jonathan Diller are in mourning after Diller was shot and killed within the line of obligation Monday. 

The road in Far Rockaway, Queens the place the lethal encounter occurred reopened Tuesday morning. Detectives remained on the scene, going into companies and speaking with witnesses, persevering with their work regardless of their heavy hearts. 

It was a site visitors cease that turned lethal for 31-year-old Diller. He was with the NYPD for 3 years, and labored for the NYPD’s Queens Neighborhood Response Workforce. He was gunned down at a site visitors cease simply earlier than 6 p.m. Monday. 

“They approached the car and requested him to step out,” Pastor Douglas Woodhul mentioned. “In three to 5 seconds, pictures have been fired. The officer was hit. The perpetrator was on the bottom.” 

It occurred on busy Mott Haven Avenue in Far Rockaway, in entrance of residents and enterprise homeowners. Some needed to duck for canopy. “The officer was attempting to get the man out of the automotive, chatting with him extra. After which the man shot him. After which he was in a position to wrestle the gun out of the man’s hand, after which kicked it away, after which the opposite officer shot the man,” witness John Cori mentioned. 

Cellphone video obtained by CBS New York reveals the chaos after the encounter, with members of the the NYPD speeding to Diller’s facet, shortly getting him right into a car and speeding him to the hospital. The video additionally reveals the suspect who opened hearth on Diller on a stretcher after Diller’s companion fired again. The video reveals Diller’s companion distraught and being consoled after the pictures have been fired. 

“Bedlam. It was unbelievable, identical to a film. Horrible to see, and I knew the cop was in dangerous form instantly,” Cori mentioned. 

“After approaching the automotive, the suspect contained in the car displayed a firearm and pointed it towards the officers. Photographs have been fired and considered one of our officers was struck,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban mentioned. 

The bullet struck Diller within the torso, just under his bullet-resistant vest. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital, the place a sea of fellow officers hugged and stood collectively, praying their brother in blue would survive. 

Sadly, hours later, his dignified switch befell. 

CBS New York has realized Diller, who lived on Lengthy Island, made 70 arrests in his brief time with the NYPD, and acquired a number of awards, together with for glorious police obligation. He leaves behind a spouse and 1-year-old child. 

“Dad and mom ought to by no means must bury their youngsters. There’s nothing pure about that, and watching his spouse as she’s simply holding on, hoping to not hear these phrases come again,” Mayor Eric Adams mentioned Tuesday. 

“I really feel horrible for the household. It is a younger, married couple with a 1-year-old little one. And every of us, after we go away residence within the morning, and we are saying goodbye to our family members, it is by no means our expectation that we aren’t going to return residence,” Metropolis Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers mentioned. 

A memorial will likely be held for him Tuesday night time on Lengthy Island. 

Police mentioned the investigation is ongoing. The 2 suspects are in custody, together with the one who was shot who continues to be within the hospital and is anticipated to outlive. Each have over a dozen prior arrests. 

Diller is the primary NYPD officer to be killed within the line of obligation in simply over two years.