A 52-year-old woman has been charged in the knife attack on five people, including three newborn babies, at a New York City home that was apparently being used as an unlicensed nursery for new mothers and their children.
Yufen Wang, of Flushing, Queens, was arraigned Monday on five charges of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
She stabbed a father, a female worker and three newborn babies inside the three-story residence in Queens early Friday at Mei Xin Care home in Flushing.
It is an expensive, $4,600-a-month illegal home where women can pay to give birth and rest with their babies afterwards so that they may obtain US citizenship.
All five victims, including a three-day-old girl who was the youngest, were hospitalized and are expected to survive.
Wang was apprehended in the building’s basement with self-inflicted wounds to her neck and wrist.
The motive for the attack is still unclear. Her next court date is Oct. 19.
A woman is pictured leaving the Mei Xin Care maternity center in Queens on Friday afternoon after three baby girls and two adults were stabbed by worker Yufen Wang. Wang, who has not been pictured, was arraigned on Monday in Manhattan on five counts of attempted murder
An empty Pampers box was left discarded outside the home next to a pool of spattered blood. At 3.40am, Wang stabbed three newborn babies, a father and a co-worker then tried to take her own life in the basement of the home but was unsuccessful
Harrowing 911 calls from inside the home revealed the terror as it unfolded. There were nine babies inside the home at the time and many adults who called police confused and scared for their lives as Wang went on her rampage.
At 3.40am, someone from inside the home called 911 to say that worker Yu Fen Wang, 52, had gone on a stabbing rampage.
One of the injured babies’ mothers told the New York Post she paid $4,600 to stay there for a month.
In the 911 call on Friday morning, one of the injured babies’ mothers reported the terror as it unfolded.
‘Help, help, help!’ she said, according to NBC which obtained the call.
‘Hurry, my baby has already been stabbed twice.’
Another person called later, saying: ‘I’m sleeping … and then I heard somebody yelling … and then they are killing people.
‘I just saw blood on the floor … and that somebody got hurt.’
That person told the operator they were scared to go outside in case they too were harmed.
‘I’m afraid’ they said. A high ranking NYPD official described it as ‘illegal’.
The home is in one of a row of multi-family buildings on the quiet street in Flushing. It is what is known as a birth center for foreign women who come to the US quietly to give birth and rest with their baby afterwards so that they get an American passport
There was chaos on the otherwise quiet street in Flushing last Friday as authorities worked at the scene. Nine babies were inside and more adults were there when Wang went on her rampage
A crime scene unit continued to work at the scene well into the afternoon on Friday. Wang’s motive for the attempted killings remains unclear
Authorities work at the scene on Friday as the victims recover in hospital. All are expected to survive, even the three-day-old girl, who was the youngest victim
There was a heavy police presence at the scene throughout the day on Friday. Wang has been the only one charged
‘They used it as a place for Chinese women to keep babies they gave birth to,’ they said.
After attacking the five victims, Wang went to the basement of the property where she slashed her left wrist in an attempt to take her own life.
She was found there by police a short while later and was unconscious but, after receiving a tourniquet, regained consciousness.
One of the baby girls was more severely injured than the other two.
Police initially feared for her life but her condition has improved to critical but stable since she was taken o the hospital.
‘There was 1 child more seriously injured than the other two, at one point we thought might have been likely but thank God she was upgraded and is now stable,’ NYPD Assistant Chief Juanita Holmes said.
She added that the property was split between living quarters but that they had uncovered paperwork which showed it was a daycare center too.
There is no record for any business at that site online.
It remains unclear how many stab wounds they each suffered and where on the body they were struck.
The building where the horror unfolded is a multi-family townhouse which contains several separate apartments.
The stabbing is understood to have happened on the ground floor and in the basement.
The Office of Child and Family Services distanced itself from the facility after the stabbing and said it was not certified by them in anyway.
‘OCFS is saddened by this horrific situation and investigating it as a possible illegal operation,’ the agency said.
This was the scene outside the home at 3.40am on Friday morning when the calls were placed