A Jamaica man was sentenced to more than three-and-a-half decades in prison Friday in Queens Supreme Court for killing a 39-year-old man in 2020 over a dispute over money and for fatally shooting another man outside a liquor store in South Ozone Park in 2021.
Ashik Zaman, 23, of 156th Street, pleaded guilty on June 20 to two counts of manslaughter and one count of criminal possession of a weapon for his crimes.
According to the charges, on the morning of Jan. 21, 2020, Zaman met with Kevin Williams in front of the 39-year-old victim’s 118th Avenue home in Jamaica. Zaman confronted Williams about money and the two argued. Zaman allegedly pulled out a gun and opened fire, striking Williams multiple times in the chest, abdomen, arm and head. He died less than an hour later.
On the night of April 28, 2021, Zaman was with a group of people shooting a music video on 134th Street in South Ozone Park, when they encountered another group near a liquor store at around 11:40 p.m. and began to argue back and forth. Video surveillance shows both groups parting ways without further incident.
However, as outlined in the charges, a short time later, Zaman stood by a car outside the liquor store while Kajawan Howard, who was talking on his cell phone, began to walk toward Zaman. That is when Zaman pulled a firearm from his waistband and shot at Howard multiple times. Immediately following the shooting, Zaman jumped into the passenger seat of a black Infiniti. As the car sped off, there was an exchange of gunfire, allegedly between Zaman and a member of the opposing group.
EMS rushed Howard to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he died of his gunshot wound the following day, on his 29th birthday.
Zaman was arrested on May 20, 2021, after NYPD officers saw him riding a defaced Citi Bike on the sidewalk near Sutphin Boulevard between 109th Avenue and 109th Road in South Jamaica. They ordered him to stop and he sped away from the scene. When the officers caught him, they checked his name and saw that he was a suspect in the two homicide investigations. On June 17, 2021, NYPD officers executed a search warrant on a residence where Zaman had resided with his family and recovered a loaded .40-caliber Ruger pistol from a garage. DNA testing connected the firearm to Zaman.
“Two acts of senseless gun violence by this defendant cost two men their lives and left their families shattered,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant sentenced Zaman to 36 years in prison.
“In our relentless effort to take illegal guns off our streets, we build strong cases against those who are accused of using these weapons,” Katz said. “Today, that resulted in a dangerous man being sent to prison.”
