Throngs of mourners and uniformed officers gathered at a Long Island church on Saturday for the funeral of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, who died in the line of duty on Monday.
Mayor Eric Adams, a centrist Democrat and former police officer, appeared emotional as he described Diller’s death in remarks at the funeral.
“I want all the families of all our police officers to know your man stands with you,” Adams told mourners in the pews of St. Rose of Lima Church in Massapequa. “I am you.”
Adams frequently invokes his past with the NYPD in speeches. And as the city grapples with anxieties around public safety and violent crime, the mayor has continued to impress upon the public that law and order remains central to his agenda.
“We're going to make sure you have what you need to do your job, including making sure that career criminals are held accountable for their crimes, and doing all we can to end gun violence in the city,” Adams told officers in the church.
Some have seized on Diller’s death to criticize the city’s approach toward law enforcement and violent crime. Former President Donald Trump, who attended Diller’s wake on Thursday, told reporters outside the funeral home that “we have to get back to law and order” as he was conspicuously flanked by uniformed officers.
Diller, 31, was shot below his protective vest while investigating an illegally parked car with his partnering officer in Far Rockaway, Queens, on Monday. He joined the NYPD in 2021 and was recognized repeatedly for “excellent police duty.”
Diller is survived by several members of his immediate family, including his one-year-old son. His wife Stephanie spoke after Adams and other officials on Saturday.
“Now my son will grow up without his father. I will grow old without my husband and his parents have to say goodbye to their child,” she said. “How many more police officers, how many more families need to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them?”
Guy Rivera, who police said opened fire, was shot in the back and hospitalized in the incident’s aftermath. He was charged on Thursday with first-degree murder and faces a potential life sentence without parole.
Before Diller, the most recent NYPD officers to die in the line of duty were Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, who were fatally shot in 2022 after responding to a domestic dispute in Harlem.
“He loved this work and he was darn good at it,” said Police Commissioner Edward Caban at Diller’s funeral on Saturday. “And what would become his final arrest made just days before he was shot and killed, [Jonathan] took a loaded gun off our streets.”
Caban posthumously promoted Diller to the rank of detective at the funeral, to applause.
“My husband died a hero but he also lived as one,” said Stephanie Diller, as she stood by their son. “Our world will never be the same.”
