Satnam Singh

Satnam Singh, a 31-year-old man from Queens, New York, was described by a neighbor as "very kind and quiet." On the afternoon of Saturday, June 25, 2022, he was sitting in a borrowed black Jeep Wrangler Sahara parked on 129th Street, just down the block from his home in the South Ozone Park neighborhood. He had borrowed the vehicle from a friend to pick someone up.

At approximately 3:45 p.m., a gray Nissan Sentra with tinted windows drove past the Jeep. As the car slowed, a witness saw an arm extend from the front passenger side holding a gun. Multiple shots were fired into the Jeep, striking Singh in the neck, chest, and head. The Nissan then fled the scene. Medics rushed Singh to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Initially, detectives were unsure if the gunman had targeted Singh or was trying to kill the owner of the SUV he was driving. However, investigators recovered shell casings at the scene and used extensive video evidence to identify the occupants of the Sentra. The Queens District Attorney’s office would later describe the brazen daylight shooting as a "targeted hit." The investigation revealed that about 30 minutes before the murder, the two suspects had visited a passport and visa service center. After the shooting, they went to a friend's wedding in New Jersey.

The investigation led to two arrests in the following months. On August 24, 2022, authorities arrested Rajtirath Bassi in his hometown of Rahway, New Jersey. On September 7, 2022, the driver of the Nissan, Lovepreet Singh, was apprehended in Pennsylvania. Both men were charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

On August 6, 2025, Rajtirath Bassi pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. He was sentenced in November 2025 to 22 years in prison. Lovepreet Singh went to trial, where evidence showed that despite his claim to hardly know Bassi, the two had exchanged 146 phone calls in the three months surrounding the shooting. In January 2026, a jury convicted him of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. On April 28, 2026, Lovepreet Singh was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison.