An 11-year-old girl in New York who raced to call 911 after her uncle began stabbing her and her sisters is being hailed as a hero — and the likely reason she and her siblings are still alive.
On Sunday, police rushed to a home on 84th Street around 10:15 a.m. after the injured 11-year-old girl locked herself in her bedroom and called 911 to report that her uncle had gone on a stabbing rampage, according to the New York Post.
The girl did not know her address, police said, but officers were able to use information gathered from her phone to track her to an address in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
Police arrived within minutes and were let into the house by an uninjured child.
“At that point they heard screams coming from behind the door to their left and immediately began forcing their way into the apartment, kicking down the door,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters during a briefing at the scene of the incident.
When police entered the home, they found a man near the entrance holding a large, bloody meat cleaver. They also saw blood covering the floor of the home, according to Tisch. Police ordered the man to drop his knife several times, but he allegedly refused and began walking toward the officers.
That's when a pair of police officers shot the man, who has been identified as Longqian Chen.
“Two officers discharged their firearms, firing seven total rounds between them, striking the subject, ending the threat,” Tisch said.
Chen was hit once in the head and twice in the torso, but survived and was rushed to a hospital for treatment.
According to the commissioner, four girls — ages 16, 13, 11 and 8 — were injured. All of the girls suffered "serious slash and stab wounds" and were rushed to the Maimonides Medical Center for treatment.
The girls are expected to survive.
“This could have ended very differently,” the commissioner said. She also noted that a 5-year-old boy was living in the house at the time of the attack, but he ran to call for help immediately after the violence began.
Tisch said Chen's exact relation to the family was still being determined. According to ABC7, Chen’s family members said the man has struggled with mental illness for some time, and he been hospitalized for schizophrenia.
“Right now we know there were five children, four hurt,” she said. “This might be the father of some of them or the uncle. And, again, we’re going to work through that. And we believe the mother was out of the house.”
Police have not revealed a motive in the attack, and the case remains under investigation.
