Trini jailed for 17 years for NY killing

A TRINIDADIAN was yesterday sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison for fatally shooting a High School student in Queens, New York, in February 2002.

Lorenzo Lochansingh, 20, formerly of Penal, who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, admitted that he shot and killed David Buna, 17, during a meeting at the intersection of I.U. Willets Road and Sunset Road South in Albertson, Queens. The meeting turned violent and ended with the violent shooting. “Remember my face”, Buna’s father George Buna, 52, shouted as police officers led Lochansingh out of the courtroom yesterday. Police revealed that on February 21, 2002, Lochansingh fired nine shots at Buna and Buna’s friend Juan Gonzalez, 18. Buna, a Herricks High School student, was struck seven times, puncturing his left lung and carotid artery. He died from his injuries.

Gonzalez, struck once, suffered minor injuries. Police said the incident arose from an argument the night before at a party in Albertson. The argument continued over the telephone the next day. Buna and four other teens returned to Albertson where he argued with two men who had stepped out of a gray car. That’s when Lochansingh fired a semi-automatic hand gun from inside the car, witnesses told police.Buna died on the spot while Gonzalez was taken to the county hospital for treatment. But police had a tough time locating Lochansingh. Shortly after the killing, Lochansingh fled Queens and police suspected he had gone to Canada.

Lochansingh, who lived at 9038 170th Street, Jamaica, Queens, was arrested on April 9, 2002 in a rooming house in Toronto, according to New York Homicide detective Sgt Herb Daub. New York detectives pinpointed Lochansingh as the suspect in the killing. They believed that Lochansingh drove to Toronto that same night. Between the time of the killing and Lochansingh’s arrest, New York homicide detectives worked with law enforcement agencies in Toronto to track down Lochansingh.