US Citizen Sentenced to 15 Years for Killing Uncle in Bangladesh Over Land Dispute

A United States court has sentenced a Bangladeshi-born American citizen to 15 years in prison for fatally shooting his uncle in Bangladesh over a long-running family land dispute.

The verdict against 54-year-old Gannet Rosario was delivered on Thursday by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Earlier, Rosario, a resident of the Bronx in New York City, pleaded guilty to killing another U.S. citizen in Munshiganj, Bangladesh.

According to court documents and Rosario’s confession, both Gannet Rosario and his uncle, Michael Rosario, 72, were originally from Bangladesh and later became naturalized U.S. citizens. The two had been engaged in a prolonged dispute over ownership of their ancestral family property in Munshiganj.

In 2021, both men traveled to Bangladesh in an attempt to resolve the property conflict and were staying at the family home at the time of the incident.

On the evening of June 11, 2021, Gannet Rosario was smoking outside near the bedroom window of his uncle when he allegedly heard Michael Rosario making insulting remarks toward him from inside the room.

Enraged, Rosario entered the house, retrieved a shotgun, and returned outside. He reportedly shouted, “You will not see tomorrow morning’s sun,” before firing through the closed window.

The shotgun blast struck Michael Rosario in the lower right side of his abdomen, killing him at the scene.

After the incident, Gannet Rosario returned to the United States in July 2023. Formal murder charges were filed against him in April 2024.

The sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysean Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Los Angeles and New York field offices. The FBI Legal Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant assistance.

The U.S. Department of Justice expressed gratitude to the Government of Bangladesh for its cooperation during the investigation.