The driver involved in the fatal shooting of NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller in Far Rockaway last month was indicted on weapons charges, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday.
Lindy Jones, 41, of Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Edgemere, was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on an indictment charging him with criminal possession of a weapon for a gun found in the car from which his codefendant Guy Rivera allegedly fired the fatal shot.
According to the charges and statements made in court, on March 25 at around 5:45 p.m., an officer on patrol in Far Rockaway saw Rivera with what looked like a gun in the front pocket of his sweatshirt as he exited a store with Jones. The two men got into a 2016 Kia Soul parked in front of 19-19 Mott Ave., with Jones behind the wheel. Diller and other officers approached the car and repeatedly asked Rivera to roll down his window before they were able to open the car door. Rivera then pulled out a gun and shot Diller in the stomach just below his bulletproof vest.
After shooting Diller, Rivera aimed his gun at Sergeant Sasha Rosen, who was with Diller. She used his hand to direct the gun away from his body. Rivera’s finger remained on the trigger as he tried to point the .380-caliber pistol back toward the sergeant. The gun was loaded but jammed following the initial shot and was unable to fire additional rounds.
EMS rushed Diller to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries.
On March 26, as part of an ongoing investigation, members of the Queens District Attorney’s office and the 101st Precinct obtained a court-authorized search warrant for the vehicle. The execution of the warrant led to the discovery of a loaded 9 mm pistol inside the glove compartment. The firearm was found to be defaced, with the serial number scratched off. A review of Jones’ arrest record indicated a prior attempted murder conviction in 2002, elevating one of the present charges against him to criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, up from criminal possession in the fourth degree.
Jones pleaded not guilty before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise, who remanded him into custody without bail and ordered him to return to court on June 12. Jones faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the current charges, in addition to 15 years on a separate open weapon charge from April 2023, with both terms to be served consecutively.
“There is no higher priority for my office than taking illegal guns off our streets to prevent the devastation they cause, whether it is in the shooting of a child playing in a schoolyard or an NYPD officer doing his job to keep us safe,” Katz said. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to achieve that goal and to seek justice for Detective Diller and his loved ones.”
Rivera, 34, whose last known address is on Broadway in Woodside, has been indicted on charges of murder in the first and second degrees, attempted murder in the first and second degrees and multiple weapons possession charges for the homicide and attempted homicide of police officers. Rivera faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. He is due back in court on May 7.
