SUNSET PARK — A Sunset Park mother and her four children — one just a year old — were stabbed to death by a jealous relative Saturday night, after they told him to find another place to stay, according to police and news reports.
Mingdong Chen, 25, a recent immigrant from China, slaughtered Qiao Zhen Li, 37, and her four children — Linda Zhuo, 9, Amy Zhuo, 7, Kevin Zhuo, 5, and William Zhuo, 1 — inside their home at 870 57th Street shortly before 10:45 p.m. Saturday, because he was angry that they had more than him, according to the New York Post.
Li's daughters and baby son were found dead at the scene, and she and her her 5-year-old son Kevin were rushed to hospitals where they died from their injuries, police said.
Chen, who was staying illegally in the U.S. and had been living in Chicago since 2004 before coming to New York, was arrested at the scene and expected to be arraigned Monday on charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Gao Yun, 29, a cousin of Li's, said Chen had a history of mental illness, and had trouble keeping jobs in the past. He had recently been fired again from a Sunset Park restaurant, she said.
Xiaowe Yang, 31, said Li told Chen to move out of the home recently.
Relatives who responded earlier in the evening to distressed calls from Li arrived to find a blood-covered Chen at the door, the News reported. He reportedly fought with police after his arrest, punching one officer in the chest inside the stationhouse, according to the News.
Amy Chen, 15, who lives near the scene, said she saw Kevin's limp body dressed in yellow pajamas as rescuers loaded him into an ambulance around 11 p.m.
"He was wearing yellow pajamas," she told the News. "They were trying to help him. But he wasn't moving."
Susan Wong, a neighbor, said she heard a scream from the home before the police came Saturday.
"I feel bad. I've seen the children playing inside," she added.
Neighbors said the children's father had been at work at a restaurant on Long Island at the time of the attack.
"The father was freaking out," neighbor May Chan told the NY Daily News. "He just came home from work...He was hysterical.”
