{"id":176453,"date":"2026-03-26T20:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/176453\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T20:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:32:41","slug":"detective-testifies-accused-killer-of-nypd-officer-jonathan-diller-had-the-gun-in-his-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/176453\/","title":{"rendered":"Detective testifies accused killer of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller ‘had the gun in his hand’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The detective who shot and wounded NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller\u2019s accused killer<\/a> said he saw the gun in the ex-con\u2019s hand moments before he fired the fatal shot during a day of chilling courtroom testimony in Queens Thursday.<\/p>\n

Det. Veckash Khedna told jurors in Queens Supreme Court that he had a clearer view than the body-worn camera on his chest when Guy Rivera pulled out a gun while sitting in the passenger seat of a Kia sedan that Diller and his team had stopped on March 25, 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Det. Veckash Khedna is pictured in an undated photo. Khedna was working with NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller the night Diller was fatally shot. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had the gun in his hand and he\u2019s looking exactly at Diller,\u201d Khedna said at Rivera\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that moment I heard a bang, I heard a gunshot It came from the defendant, he fired a weapon, he fired a gun. And I heard DIller start screaming. He started screaming, He\u2019s in a lot of pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera, 35, faces murder, attempted murder and weapon possession charges nearly two years after prosecutors say he fatally shot Diller in the stomach<\/a> during a car stop on Mott Ave. in Far Rockaway.<\/p>\n

Khedna and another detective, Derval White, were talking to a man they had stopped on the sidewalk when Diller drew their attention to a car he and two other members of their team, Sgt. Sasha Rosen and Det. Dario Fernandez, had surrounded.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice secure a vehicle in front of 1919 Mott Ave. in Far Rockaway, Queens, after NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller was fatally shot while making a car stop on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Rivera\u2019s defense team has argued that his gun went off accidentally after Rosen reached into the car and grabbed it, trying to leverage footage from body cameras and surveillance cameras that don\u2019t offer a clear view of the gun or the sergeant\u2019s hands inside the car.<\/p>\n

But Khedna testified that his line of sight was higher than his body camera\u2019s view, which meant he had a clear view inside the car as the episode unfolded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had full control of the gun,\u201d Khedna said of Rivera.<\/p>\n

The detective also testified he saw Rivera push his way out of the vehicle and pointed his gun directly at Rosen\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n

Khedna said he fired two shots, just moments apart, as Diller fell to his knees while Rosen and Rivera struggled.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Sam Costanza for New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Police secure the scene on Mott Ave. in Far Rockaway, Queens after NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller was fatally shot while making a car stop on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

He then moved to cuff Rivera, who dropped to the ground, and he heard Diller yell, \u201cI\u2019m shot! I\u2019m shot!\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he was on his knees, and then he falls down, and he never came back up,\u201d Khedna said, crying.<\/p>\n

In a tense criss-examination, Rivera\u2019s defense attorney, Jamal Johnson, pressed Khedna on what he saw and what was visible on camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shot (Rivera) in the back, is that correct?\u201d Johnson asked at one point, getting the reply, \u201cI did not shoot him in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson also used Khedna\u2019s body camera footage to push back on testimony from previous witnesses in the case that Rivera was smiling as he lay on the ground wounded,<\/a> suggesting that his client had actually been grimacing in pain.<\/p>\n

\"GuyGuy Rivera, charged in the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, listens to opening statements as his trial begins at Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Dave Sanders\/Pool\/The New York Times)<\/p>\n

He went frame-by-frame, asking Khedna, \u201cIs Mr. Rivera smiling here?\u201d and \u201cYou believe he is smiling, and not grimacing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was smiling multiple times,\u201d Khedna said after seeing one frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was smirking,\u201d he said, twice, after two more. \u201cI\u2019ve answered this question so many times.\u201d<\/p>\n

That line of questioning drew a rebuke from Judge Michael Aloise, who paced back and forth behind the bench, repeatedly sustaining the prosecution\u2019s objections.<\/p>\n

Aloise also shut down a line of questioning where Johnson asked the detective if he told the shooter to \u201cstand the f\u2014 up.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the jury left for lunch, Johnson argued the \u201cdefense counsel has been limited in a very extraordinary way\u201d in its ability to impeach the credibility of the police witnesses or question Rosen on his \u201cprior bad acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aloise challenged that, saying, \u201cWith respect to the incident itself, you\u2019ve not been limited at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial continues Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The detective who shot and wounded NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller\u2019s accused killer said he saw the gun in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,122,124,123,265],"class_list":["post-176453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}