In a tragic incident on June 25, 2022, a 31-year-old Indian-origin man, Satnam Singh, was fatally shot in the South Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, New York. The shooting occurred in the afternoon, at approximately 3:45 PM, as Singh was sitting in a borrowed black Jeep Wrangler Sahara on 129th Street, near his home. The assailant, or assailants, opened fire, striking Singh in the neck and chest.
Despite being rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, he succumbed to his injuries.
Initially, the motive behind the brazen daylight shooting was unclear to investigators. Detectives considered the possibility that Singh was not the intended target and that the gunman may have mistaken him for the owner of the SUV he was driving. Eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage from a neighbor's security camera captured a silver-colored sedan with a black trunk approaching the Jeep. The footage reportedly showed the sedan making a U-turn before multiple shots were fired, after which the vehicle fled the scene. This evidence proved to be crucial in the ensuing investigation.
The investigation into Satnam Singh's murder led to the arrests of two suspects. On August 24, 2022, the NYPD Regional Fugitive Task Force apprehended 20-year-old Rajtirath Bassi of Rahway, New Jersey. He was subsequently charged with murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. A second suspect, 27-year-old Lovepreet Singh of Richmond Hill, was arrested on October 15, 2022. He faced the same charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon for his alleged involvement in the execution-style killing.
