Fatal shooting of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller in Queens sparks call for greater reductions in recidivism

Mayor Adams called the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller in Queens “a senseless act of violence” and called for greater reductions in recidivism in the wake of the Monday night incident.

He asked state lawmakers to pass laws to help lower recidivism, severe mental illness and random acts of violence, which he said are the culprits of both the cop’s death and an unprovoked fatal subway shove in East Harlem Monday evening. He also said that judges need to target repeat offenders.

“The foundation of the public safety apparatus is dissolving before our eyes,” Adams said, although he pushed back on the idea that the city is “out of control.”

While Adams offered up some suggestions, Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a hard-right Republican, blamed criminal justice reforms for the cop’s death — despite no evidence to suggest this — and blamed Democrats for Diller’s death in a post on X.

“Let’s be crystal clear: Every Democrat who voted for or supports criminal justice reform has P.O. Jonathan Diller’s blood on their hands,” the Trump-supporting northern Queens councilwoman wrote.

There is no evidence to suggest that criminal justice reform affected either of the suspects, who are both currently in custody.

This is the shooter’s first arrest since bail reform, which didn’t take effect until 2020.

When asked for clarification on the tweet, Paladino doubled down on Democrats in an emailed statement, saying that “progressives have enabled a culture of criminality in this city, through both policy and rhetoric.”

Lindy Jones, 41, one of two suspects in the cop’s killing, has an ongoing criminal case for weapon charges in Queens, and was out on $75,000 bail, city records show. Jones had two sealed arrests since 2020.

“My heart hurts for a young widow and family that lost their loved one tonight,” Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers, whose district the shooting took place in, wrote on X, Monday night.

“My thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones; and members of our community that witnessed this cowardly act,” she continued. “Illegal guns have no place on our streets.”

Diller and his partner pulled Jones, and Guy Rivera, 34, over in a car stop in Far Rockaway just before 5:50 p.m., cops and sources said.

Rivera was repeatedly told to get out of the car, NYPD said, and then shot Diller, 31, in the torso under his bullet-resistant vest. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where he could not be saved.

Rivera has a long rap sheet. He’s been arrested 21 times, including for nine alleged felonies, according to police, and previously served five years behind bars for the criminal sale of a controlled substance, city records show.

Adams said that both suspects’ relapse into criminal behavior was alarming.

“April 2023 — less than a year, gun charge, he’s back on the street,” Adams said of Jones on Monday evening. “This is what you call not a crime problem, but a recidivist problem. The same bad people doing bad things to good people. Less than a year, he’s back on the streets.”

The shooting happened less than two blocks from the NYPD’s 101st Precinct station house.

“The loss of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller is devastating — a husband, a father, someone who signed up to keep New Yorkers safe, killed for doing his job,” Comptroller Brad Lander, a progressive Democrat, wrote. “I join New Yorkers in gratitude for his service, in anger at his killing, in mourning for his loss, in prayers for his family.”

With Thomas Tracy