Lindy Jones, Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, defendants in 2 police shootings, have court dates

The defendant indicted on weapons charges linked to the fatal shooting of NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller appeared briefly in Queens Supreme Court on Wednesday morning while another suspect who allegedly shot two officers from Long Island was not in court.

Queens prosecutors said Lindy Jones, 41, of Edgemere, was behind the wheel of a Kia Soul on March 25 when his passenger, Guy Rivera, opened fire, shooting Diller in the abdomen, just below his bulletproof vest. Diller was declared dead at Jamaica Hospital later that night.

Jones pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in March. A complaint filed two days after the shooting charged Jones with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Queens prosecutors told Justice Michael B. Aloise they were still gathering evidence in the case and would soon provide discovery to Jones’ attorney, Murray Singer, of Port Washington. Aloise ordered Jones, held without bail since March, to return to court on Sept. 19. Singer did not immediately return a request for comment.

Several dozen NYPD officers attended Wednesday’s hearing, along with Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, even though the hearing lasted just minutes and was largely uneventful.

“We are not going away,” NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said. “We are going to be there every step of the way to make sure that justice is served for our hero brother Jonathan Diller and his family.”

Jones faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the current charges, in addition to 15 years on a separate open weapons charge from April 2023.

Rivera, 34, of Woodside, has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, weapons charges and other crimes.

Officials have said that Diller was part of a detail of community response officers working on Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway the day he was shot. An NYPD sergeant directed Diller and his partner to investigate after he spotted a man walking with what appeared to be a gun in his hoodie. Rivera resisted and engaged in a brief tug-of-war with Diller before firing once from a .380-caliber handgun.

Meanwhile, an attorney for a Venezuelan man accused of shooting two NYPD officers from Long Island earlier this month appeared in Queens County Criminal Court on Wednesday. Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, who did not appear at the hearing, was ordered to return to court on June 26.

Mata, 19, faces first- and second-degree murder charges and other offenses. He has not yet entered a plea.

According to police, Mata was observed by NYPD officers Christopher Abeu, Richard Yarusso and other officers driving a motorcycle the wrong way early June 3 down Ditmars Boulevard near 90th Street. Police said Mata wasn’t wearing a helmet and was seen weaving his motorcycle onto the sidewalk with pedestrians present.

Officials said Yarusso and his sergeant exited their unmarked police vehicle and approached Mata, who ditched his motorcycle and fled on foot. Yarusso gave chase and Abreu followed in the unmarked vehicle, while the sergeant picked up the abandoned motorcycle and also used it to give chase, according to Katz.

Yarusso and Abreu ultimately caught up with Mata, who, while struggling with the officers, pulled out a loaded .380-caliber handgun from a chest pack, firing once and hitting Yarusso in his protective vest, then fired again, hitting Abreu in his upper right thigh, according to Katz.

The two officers, both 26, returned fire, striking Mata in his foot and ankle before placing him in handcuffs, officials said. The officers were treated at a hospital and released.