4 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
a most violent day
No bail for Flushing woman in day care center stabbings
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Th e Flushing woman who allegedly
stabbed fi ve people — including three
infants — at a local day care center on
Friday morning will remain behind bars
indefi nitely.
Yufen Wang, 52, of Cherry Avenue
appeared in Queens Criminal Court on
Sept. 24 for arraignment on fi ve counts
of second-degree attempted murder and
fourth-degree criminal possession of a
weapon. Queens Criminal Court Judge
Toni Cimino ordered Wang held without
bail, and to return to court on Oct. 19.
Law enforcement sources said Wang
went on a violent rampage early on the
morning of Sept. 21 at the day care facility
where she worked, on 161st Street
near 45th Avenue. She allegedly slashed
and stabbed three infants, one as young
as 13 days old, and attacked a coworker
and one of the babies’ fathers, according
to Queens District Attorney Richard
A. Brown.
It’s still unclear why Wang went on the
attack, prosecutors said.
“Wang is charged with an unimaginable
act — an attack on defenseless,
innocent babies,” Brown said in a Sept.
24 statement. “Th e defendant was hired
to care for and protect the infants, sadly
she was the danger. Th is kind of senseless
violence can not go unpunished and
the defendant now faces a lengthy term of
incarceration.”
Police said the violence erupted at about
3 a.m. on Sept. 21 inside the three-story
residence where the facility is located.
As several Queens lawmakers noted
later that day, it’s believed that the day
care center — which lacked proper licensing
— served as a postpartum facility to
help young mothers raise their newborns
during the fi rst few weeks of their lives.
During a press conference outside
the crime scene on Friday aft ernoon,
Assemblyman Ron Kim repeatedly said
that the facility was unlicensed, yet advertised
itself to the contrary, and might have
called itself by the name Mei Bao in “ethnic
publications.”
“Why were there seven infant babies in
this house?” Kim asked. “Were they vetted
and licensed to care for these kids? …
Once we have the facts, my colleagues and
I will work very closely to close any loopholes
in the system to make sure that we
will never see this kind of ugliness in our
community again.”
One of the girls’ fathers witnessed the
attack and went to stop Wang, who then
allegedly stabbed him in the leg and wrist.
Law enforcement sources said that Wang
also allegedly knifed a female coworker in
the face, chest and legs.
Offi cers from the 109th Precinct and
EMS units rushed to the scene. All of the
victims were taken to local hospitals for
treatment of their injuries.
Responding offi cers found Wang in
the basement with wounds to her neck
and wrist that appeared to be self-infl icted,
Brown said. Two knives used in the
attack were also located and recovered.
Wang was taken into custody and treated
for her injuries; she also underwent a psychiatric
evaluation.
If convicted of all charges, Wang could
spend between 5 and 25 years in prison,
Brown added.
Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech contributed
to this report.
Photo: Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech/THE COURIER
Police and local offi cials outside the 161st Street day care center where fi ve people were stabbed
on Sept. 21.
Double homicide in East Elmhurst sparked by love triangle: cops
BY MARK HALLUM
AND ROBERT POZARYCKI
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Two people caught in a love triangle
died on Friday morning when a man shot
his lover to death before turning the gun
on himself, according to police.
According to police, the incident
occurred at about 7:40 a.m. on Sept. 21 at
a home in the vicinity of 77th Street and
19th Road, about two blocks souths of the
Rikers Island Bridge.
Police said a 31-year-old woman called
911 at 6:52 a.m. — just one minute aft er a
neighbor reported hearing gunshots. Th e
woman, who lived on the second fl oor of
the apartment building, told 911 operators
that “I’ve been shot by my boyfriend,”
and asked to send the police,
according to Carlos Nieves of the NYPD’s
Public Information offi ce.
Th at call then disconnected, but the
line remained open and loud noises were
heard in the background, Nieves said.
Offi cers from the 114th Precinct and
the NYPD Emergency Services Unit
responded to the call, according to Chief
of Detectives Dermot Shea.
“When they get to this location they
encounter a locked door to apartment 2R,
but from within that location, they can hear
(and this is preliminary but) up to 10 shots
being fi red,” Shea said. “Th ey immediately
secured a perimeter, they request additional
assistance and Emergency Service began
rolling to the location.”
Upon entering the building, offi cers
found Nelson Giron, 47, of Lakeworth,
Florida shot once in the head, and Regan
Smith, 31, of 77th Street in East Elmhurst
with two gunshot wounds to her head.
Detectives believe that she was the woman
who made the 911 call.
Paramedics pronounced them both
dead at the scene, police said.
A third individual, a 43-year-old
Yonkers police offi cer believed to be the
victim’s boyfriend, was found alive with a
gunshot wound to the shoulder and multiple
stab wounds to the back, likely from
a screwdriver, a police source told the
TimesLedger.
Th e off -duty offi cer underwent at
Elmhurst Hospital and is expected to survive,
according to Nieves.
A fi rearm was located in close proximity
to Giron’s body, Nieves said. Th e gunshot
wound he sustained may have been
self-infl icted, according to Nieves, who
added that the serial number on the gun
matches up to a weapon owned by the
off -duty offi cer.
“What we do believe is that we have
three individuals — two are romantically
involved and one possibly an ex-boyfriend
and one a current boyfriend,”
Photo by Mark Hallum
Nieves said, adding that at least two of
the three involved in the incident had previously
served in the military, though he
could not confi rm that had anything to do
with Friday’s events.
Shea said the NYPD received calls of
trouble from the location in the days leading
up to the homicides.
“What we know now as we stand here,
beginning this week on Monday, we had
several calls of this general vicinity,” he
said. “We had an incident involving a
car being keyed, and it involved the three
individuals that I just spoke about.”
Detectives at the scene of a double homicide in East Elmhurst on Sept. 21.
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