(Image via nbcnews.com)
Staff Writer: Akshit Bagga
Email: abagga@umassd.edu
Police officers in New York shot a mentally ill man after he stabbed four innocent girls using a meat cleaver.
In the morning hours of April 6th, the police officers in New York responded to a distress call about a man assaulting people at an apartment in the city. Upon reaching the scene, the officers found four girls succumbing to knife wounds.
The officers discovered the suspect roaming in the neighborhood and confronted him, later shooting him down.
The incident occurred at 1671 84th Street in Brooklyn, sometime around 10:15 AM on Sunday morning. The man has been identified as 49-year-old Luan Chen.
The victims were Luan’s nieces.
The police department received a call from a young girl to report an assault on her siblings. While the girl couldn’t tell her address to the emergency responders, the 911 call center was able to find the house using the caller’s location. The officers reached the scene and were let in by the 11-year-old only for them to find little girls lying down with slashes of knife wounds on their body.
The 11-year-old girl was injured too but was able to run around the house, hide in a bedroom and call for help. A young boy who might have been present on the scene was able to escape when the incident started and rush to a neighbor’s house to seek help.
The officers discovered Luan with a 14-inch meat cleaver standing near a door. When instructed by the officers to drop the weapon, Luan refused to obey and started walking to the officers. It was then that the two officers opened fire at Luan, shooting and critically injuring him.
All the four victims and the suspect were being treated for their wounds at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. Luan Chen is suspected to be suffering from mental illness.
Investigators couldn’t determine any motive for the attack. NYPD Chief of Department John Chell said that detectives were attempting to confirm the relationship between the victims and the suspect. He added that the mother of the children was not home at the time of the attack.
Police also discovered a second kitchen knife covered in blood.
In a press conference, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the day of crime.
“Officers and EMS arrived at the door within minutes of receiving the 911 call. Their fast, decisive action pinpointing the location and taking down the door absolutely saved the lives of these young girls. Once they entered, they encountered a man standing near the entrance holding a large meat cleaver covered in blood and they could see blood on the floor and the walls of the home.”
Tisch mentioned that the suspect was asked to drop the weapon and added, “He refused and advanced towards them. Two officers discharged their firearms, firing seven total rounds between them, striking the subject, ending the threat.”
While Chen is still being treated in the hospital, police are charging him with four counts each of attempted murder, assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment, and criminal possession of a weapon. He was also charged with two counts of menacing a police officer.
NYC state senator Steven Chan said, “I personally grew up over here and I know many neighbors right here on this block, and I’ve spoken to some of them, and everyone is devastated and saddened by the events that unfolded here this morning.”
Police have mentioned that there were no previous distress reports associated with the house.