Tunnels To Towers To Pay Slain Officer's Mortgage; 540K+ Raised

MASSAPEQUA, NY — As a family mourns, the widow of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller knows she won't have to worry about the mortgage for her Massapequa Park home.

Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced Thursday that it is paying off the mortgage for Stephanie Diller and her one-year-old son.

That's hardly the only charitable display since Diller was shot while on duty in Far Rockaway.

A GoFundMe page has received more than $540,000 since it was created on Tuesday by Christopher Johnson of Long Beach, who's a member of the NYPD's Scuba Unit.

"It sounds like a ton of money. It is a lot of money," Johnson told Patch. "But it's not the same as having a husband or father around."

Johnson is a colleague of Jonathan McAuley, Diller's brother-in-law.

While Johnson only met Diller once, at McAuley's bachelor party, he was compelled to create this outlet for people to come together for the family.

"This is more of 'how can I help my co-worker's family?'" Johnson said.

So the GoFundMe was launched with "a goal of $10,000," he said. "It's blown up like crazy."

Johnson said his interaction with Diller, only on the force for a year at the time, involved encouraging him to "get your three years on, so you can come over and be in the same unit as us."

From that initial encounter, "I just remember him coming in with a very optimistic outlook on his new career," Johnson said. "He seemed very excited."

Diller worked for the NYPD's Community Response Team out of Queens, which didn't surprise Johnson.

"They're a very hands-on, real police work-type of unit," he said.

Diller leaves behind a wife and a one-year-old child.

Since setting up the page, as the donations soared, someone contacted him at GoFundMe about having Diller's widow named as the beneficiary.

"I'm running the account, but I have no connection to the money," Johnson said.

A wake is being held on Thursday and Friday, ahead of the funeral on Saturday morning.