Bodycam Footage Shows Suspect Appearing to Smile During Testimony in Case of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s Murder

Testimony from one of Officer Jonathan Diller’s colleagues revealed that the suspect, accused of fatally shooting the NYPD officer, seemed to be smiling in police bodycam footage captured just after the tragic incident.

During a session in a Queens courtroom on Wednesday, NYPD Detective Derval Whyte shared his harrowing experience, explaining that he witnessed his friend being shot without provocation during a standard traffic stop in March 2024. Whyte described the heartbreaking final moments of Diller’s life, according to a report from the New York Post.

“I saw him lying there, not moving,” Whyte recounted. “He said, ‘I’ve been shot.’ I immediately went to check for the wound, and after rolling him over, I found the bullet wound just above his abdomen.”

The courtroom viewed bodycam footage capturing the officers’ desperate attempts to save Diller in the moments following the shooting. The video also showed a man, handcuffed and on the ground, who appeared to be smirking, as reported by the outlet.

Guy Rivera, facing charges for the fatal shooting of Officer Jonathan Diller, listened intently during the opening statements of his trial at the Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens, Queens, on March 10, 2026. (Dave Sanders/Pool/The New York Times)

When he was asked to describe the footage, Whyte said, “That’s the defendant. He looks like he’s smiling.”

Diller, a 31-year-old married father, was inspecting a suspicious vehicle parked outside a T-Mobile store in Far Rockaway on March 25, 2024, when 35-year-old Guy Rivera, who was seated in the passenger seat, allegedly fired three rounds at the officer, striking him in the stomach. 

Rivera, a career criminal with nearly two dozen prior arrests, according to police, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges after prosecutors said he gunned down Diller.

Assistant District Attorney Ken Zawistowski described the fatal encounter during the trial’s opening statements last week.

“[Rivera] took out his gun and pointed it at officer Diller,” Zawistowski said.

Stephanie Diller, widow of slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, becomes emotional as she attends her husband’s murder trial. (Fox News)

“He shot officer Diller underneath his bulletproof vest, causing his intestines to be ripped through and causing his iliac artery to be severed — one of the body’s most vital arteries,” Zawistowski continued.

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