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Cousin Confesses to Stabbing Brooklyn Mom, 4 Children, DA Says

By Pedro Oliveira Jr | October 28, 2013 3:35pm
  Chen Mingdong, 25 at shows up to Brooklyn Criminal Court on Monday for a courth appearance on Monday, October 28, 2013   after being charged with murdering his cousin’s wife and children in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Satruday. 
Chen Mingdong court appearance
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BROOKLYN CRIMINAL COURT — He didn't even try to run.

Mingdong Chen, 25, the man accused of stabbing his cousin’s wife and her four children to death gave himself up to police as soon as they arrived at horrific scene in Sunset Park Saturday night, according to a criminal complaint. His shirt was splashed with blood, prosecutors said.

"I know I am done," he told police, according to the complaint.

Wearing a dark blue jumpsuit, Chen stared blankly at the wall in Brooklyn Criminal Court as prosecutor Mark Hale accused him of murder, criminal possession of a weapon and assault of a police officer for kicking and punching an officer while being interrogated at the 66th Precinct.

The stone-faced Chinese immigrant is accused of slaughtering 37-year-old Qiaozhen Li and her four children: Linda Zhuo, 9, Amy Zhuo, 7, Kevin Zhuo, 5, and William Zhuo, 1 in their home, prosecutors said.

The Brooklyn District Attorney's office said in the complaint that Chen, through a translator, confessed to the crime.

Judge Jane Tully ordered Chen held without bail Monday.

Chen slashed each of his five relatives in the neck, according to the court documents. The mother and 5-year-old Kevin were rushed to the hospital, where they died of their injuries. The other children were pronounced dead at the 57th Street home.

Several news reports say that Chen attacked the family because he was angry and jealous that the family had more than he.

A relative of the victims, 29-year-old Gao Yun, said Chen had a history of mental illness and struggled to keep jobs. He had recently been fired from a Sunset Park restaurant. Hale said authorities have not confirmed that Chen suffered from mental illness.

Li had recently told Chen to move out of the home, another relative Xiaowe Yang, 31 told DNAinfo New York Sunday.

Once arrested, Chen became “combative and irate” and injured an officer’s ankle while the police officer tried to subdue him, court records show. He later repeatedly punched and kicked Detective Raymond Weng, who was trying to interpret for Chen, the complaint said.

Weng was treated at a local hospital for a wrist injury.

Chen suffered facial bruises during the fight, his lawyer Danielle Eaddy said.

Immigration officials have placed a detainment order on Chen, who could be in the country illegally and could be deported regardless of the outcome of this case, the prosecutor said.

Chen is scheduled back in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Nov. 1.