Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Ashram Lochan has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Justin Wallace in June 2021. Lochan pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter last month admitting he directed Jovan Young to fire multiple gunshots into his neighbor’s doorway because of a grudge over a shared driveway. The young boy was shot once in the chest as he stood near the doorway. Young also pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced last week to 24 years in prison for fatally shooting the child and seriously injuring another man.

District Attorney Katz said: “This was a profoundly senseless act of gun violence. Young Justin Wallace was gunned down because Ashram Lochan had a disagreement with a neighbor over a shared driveway. Lochan directed co-defendant Jovan Young to spray the neighbor’s home with bullets, killing 10-year-old Justin and wounding the child’s 29-year-old uncle in the process. Using guns to settle disputes is as stupid and dangerous as it gets, and we hope this sentence brings some measure of closure to Justin’s family, friends and community.”

Lochan, 32, of Edgemere, was sentenced today before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant to 19 years in prison to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.

Young, 34, also of Edgemere, was sentenced on October 23, 2026, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky to 24 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision, for his role in the offense.

Both defendants pleaded guilty in satisfaction of indictments that variously charged them with murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and tampering with physical evidence.

DA Katz said that, according to the indictment and investigation, on June 5, 2021, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Lochan saw his neighbor, 29-year-old Kyle Forrester, entering Forrester’s home on Beach 45^th Street. Lochan, angry over a disagreement about a shared driveway, directed defendant Jovan Young to shoot at Forrester just as the victim opened his front door.

Young fired multiple shots, hitting Forrester in his back, hand and neck. Forrester’s cousin, Justin Wallace, who stood inside the doorway was struck once in the chest.

Wallace was transported to a local hospital where he later died from the gunshot wound.

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Chief Assistant District Attorney Shawn Clark.