FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 8, 2023
U-Haul Driver Indicted for Murder and Attempted Murder for Allegedly Intentionally Driving a Truck into Multiple Victims, Killing One Man and Injuring Others in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Sunset Park
Defendant’s Alleged Rampage Ended When he was Boxed in by Police in Red Hook
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a former Las Vegas, Nevada resident has been arraigned on an indictment in which he is charged with murder, attempted murder and assault for driving a U-Haul truck into 10 civilians, killing one, and for injuring two police officers.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This was a terrifying incident in which we allege that an innocent pedestrian and numerous cyclists were intentionally targeted and mowed down by this defendant, including a father of three who did not survive his injuries. We will now seek to bring the defendant to justice and to keep the streets of Brooklyn safe.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Weng Sor, 62, formerly of Las Vegas, Nevada. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on a 25-count indictment in which he is charged with second-degree murder, first- and second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault and first-degree attempted assault. The defendant was ordered held without bail and to return to court on May 31, 2023.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on February 13, 2023, between 10:20 a.m. and 11:05 a.m., at multiple locations, beginning at 55th Street and 4th Avenue in Sunset Park and concluding at 72nd Street and 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge, according to witnesses and surveillance footage, the defendant was driving a U-Haul truck and struck numerous e-bike riders and a bicyclist and endangered pedestrians, motorists and people waiting to cross the street.
In addition, it is alleged, the defendant drove up on to the sidewalk and struck a pedestrian. During the course of the alleged rampage, he allegedly drove toward a police officer who was then struck and injured by an e-bike being dragged by the truck.
The defendant, who was being pursued by police, drove from Bay Ridge on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to Red Hook where he was boxed in and apprehended by police, at which time a police officer was struck by the vehicle and injured.
A civilian, YiJie Ye, a 44-year-old father of three, who was riding an e-bike and working for a food delivery service, died of head injuries after being struck in the vicinity of Bay Ridge Parkway and Fifth Avenue.
The other individuals that were struck suffered a variety of injuries including multiple rib fractures, a pelvic fracture, broken legs, injury to the head, ankle, and knee. Additionally, several of the victims required surgery as a result of their injuries.
The District Attorney thanked Homicide Paralegal James Morales and KCDA Digital Evidence Lab Intelligence Analyst Lexie Giardina for their assistance on the case.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Joseph Mancino of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Alicia Trujillo of the District Attorney’s Blue Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Leila Rosini, Chief of the Homicide Bureau.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.