U-Haul driver Weng Sor, accused in fatal Brooklyn rampage, intentionally hurt people, prosecutor says

The U-Haul truck driver accused of killing one man and injuring eight other people as he barreled down Brooklyn streets and sidewalks told police he wanted to end his hourlong rampage “by taking out enemies,” a prosecutor said during his arraignment on Wednesday.

New York City Criminal Court Judge Joshua Glick ordered Weng Sor, 62, to be held without bail at Wednesday’s arraignment. Glick also agreed with a request from Sor’s attorney Andrew Friedman for the defendant — who was charged with second-degree murder and several counts of attempted murder, assault and attempted assault — to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before he returns to court on March 16. 

Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney David Ingle told Glick that Sor informed police who detained him after Monday’s rampage that “he wanted to hit those people that disturbed me.” 

“‘It’s judgment day,'” Ingle said Sor told police after his arrest, following his rampage through Sunset Park, Bay Ridge and Red Hook. “‘l want it to end by taking out enemies. Shoot me! I will not give in.'’

A top NYPD official said Tuesday that Sor was believed to be “suffering from a mental health crisis” during the incident, and Friedman seemed to agree, asking Glick to order a psychiatric evaluation for the defendant. 

“Your honor, at this point I have serious concerns about Mr. Sor’s ability to participate in his own defense,” Friedman told Glick, asking the judge to place Sor on suicide watch and in protective custody. He also asked Glick to make sure Sor, who had been hospitalized after his arrest on Monday, received medical attention. 

Investigators found a letter in the truck that was addressed to former President Donald Trump and expressed Sor’s wishes to meet the ex-president, a police source said. The Secret Service questioned Sor about the letter but determined that Sor had not posed a threat to Trump at that time, according to the source. The Secret Service referred queries to the NYPD, which declined to comment. 

A law-enforcement source on Tuesday identified the victim who died as YiJie Ye, 44, of Brooklyn, who was driving a moped when he was struck by the U-Haul box truck at the intersection of Bay Ridge Parkway and Fifth Avenue. Police had described Ye as a single father of two children. According to the complaint filed against Sor, Ye suffered blunt force trauma to the head during Sor’s alleged rampage and died from injuries he suffered during the encounter.

Ingle said the other victims, who include an NYPD officer, suffered from broken bones and blunt-force trauma. The complaint said three surviving victims suffered broken legs and two had suffered head injuries. One survivor suffered a broken rib, while one suffered a knee injury and another sustained an ankle injury. 

“The defendant stated that he wanted to hurt these people,” Ingle told the judge.

During a news conference in Red Hook on Monday, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell described Sor’s fatal drive through Brooklyn as a “violent rampage” but said there was no evidence of “terrorism involvement.” Sewell said the hourlong rampage began at 10:20 a.m. on Monday, when the U-Haul hit a 34-year-old male at the intersection of 55th Street and Fourth Avenue. 

The incident ended when Sor drove the truck onto the sidewalk of Hamilton Avenue, near the entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, in an attempt to flee from authorities. An NYPD officer spotted Sor’s escape attempt and boxed him in with a police vehicle, Sewell said. 

 While Sor had a record of a traffic infraction in New York City for speeding and illegal operation of a truck on a restricted highway — the Belt Parkway — he had eight prior arrests going back to 2002 in Las Vegas, officials said. 

In 2015, Weng Sor stabbed his brother in Las Vegas and served about 17 months in a Nevada prison, according to court and prison records. In 2020, he stabbed someone in the arm and chest with a knife and was sentenced to 364 days in county jail, with about 10 months of time already served.

His record also includes a Feb. 5 arrest in South Carolina for reckless driving and marijuana possession. 

Sor was in Florida in early February where he rented the U-Haul truck in West Palm Beach and began driving to New York, passing through South Carolina, officials said.

With Anthony M. DeStefano