Officials: Queens day care worker faces multiple charges in slashing attack

A Queens day care worker accused of slashing three infants and two adults Friday is facing multiple charges of attempted murder in the attacks, officials said.

YuFen Wang, 52,  appeared in Queens Criminal Court late Monday for arraignment on five counts of attempted second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, said a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Judge Toni Cimino ordered Wang held without bail, the spokeswoman said.

According to a two-page criminal complaint, Wang, for reasons that are still unknown, slashed the three infants, ranging in age from 13 days to 33 days old, early on the morning of Sept. 21 inside a three-story residence on 161st Street in Flushing. The location is known as a “birthing center” in the community where immigrant mothers from China come to either give birth or leave their newborns for care, a police official said.

Police said Wang’s family had reported that she seemed depressed before the attacks, but a motive remained unclear.  The location also reportedly is not listed with the city as an official day care center.

In addition to the attacks on the infants, Wang is accused of slashing the 31-year-old father of one of the newborns as he tried to stop her, according to a statement from Brown.  Wang also cut the face, chest and legs of a 63-year-old woman who worked at the facility, Brown said.

A fourth infant, about 22 days old, sustained a skull fracture, possibly through jostling, as another woman tried to protect the child during the attacks, an NYPD official said. The four infants remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition, the official said.

Cops said they recovered two knives at the location. One was found on the first floor and apparently used in the slashing attacks.  A second knife was recovered in the basement where Wang was arrested and found with what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds to her neck and wrist, Brown said.

Defense attorney Mihea Kim didn’t return a telephone call for comment on Tuesday.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.