Press Release

Victim Shot and Killed Allegedly by Accomplice as They Pounced on People in Parked Car: Defendant Faces Up to 25 Years-to-Life in Prison if Convicted

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Nazieer Basir, 22, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on murder, manslaughter and other charges for a deadly shooting in Ozone Park, Queens on December 7th .

District Attorney Katz said, “This is an appalling example of stupid, senseless violence turning deadly. The defendant and victim were allegedly set to attack a group of rivals in a car. The defendant charged here allegedly fired his illegal gun, missed his intended target, and killed his would-be accomplice. This mindless bloodshed must stop.”

Basir, of 106th Street in Jamaica, Queens, was apprehended after fleeing Queens following the shooting. Today he was arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder on an indictment charging him with murder in the second degree, manslaughter in the first degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Justice Holder remanded the defendant and set a return date for January 13, 2021. If convicted, the defendant faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

According to the charges, just before 10 p.m. on December 7, 2020, Basir and the victim, 22-yearold Royhessny Sintjago, and two others were in the vicinity of 90th Street and Liberty Avenue. The four were allegedly in the process of attacking a group of individuals in a parked car. As the vehicle took off to escape, Sintjago, armed with a tire jack, ran in pursuit. Basir allegedly raised the gun and fired two shots at the car. He missed the car, but one of his bullets struck Sintjago in the head, killing him.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Patrick Cahill of the 106th Precinct and Detective Joseph Petrelli of the Queens Homicide Bureau.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Emily Collins of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Joshua Garland under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Brad Leventhal, Bureau Chief, Peter McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John Kosinski and Kenneth Appelbaum, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders. Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.