Michael Yifan Wen, Manhasset, Long Island, New York man arrested pointing gun at 6 year old boy’s head attempting to retrieve Halloween candy bag he mistakenly left on homeowner’s porch.
Trick or treat? A Long Island man has been arrested after allegedly pointing a gun at a six-year-old boy’s head when the child mistakenly left a bag of Halloween candy on his front porch and had returned to retrieve it.
The incident occurred on Saturday at around 7.30pm in Manhasset, New York, when the boy ran back to retrieve the bag he and his sister had dropped at the wrong address.
Michael Yifan Wen, 43, is accused of opening his front door and pointing a handgun at the child’s head – telling the infant to ‘get the f*** off my property!’ According to court documents, Wen said: ‘Today I just wanted to scare them.’
Trick or treat?
The boy’s mother called cops with Wen arrested without incident. The homeowner was charged with second-degree menacing and endangering the welfare of a child.
On Saturday the unidentified mom, 42, had driven her two sons, daughter and nephew to drop off a bag of candy at a friend’s house.
The mother’s daughter, 10, and son, 6, walked up to the door of the residence they believed belonged to their friend and rang the doorbell.
The group soon realized that had the wrong address and left only to return to retrieve the candy bag accidentally left behind.
Wen’s attorney William X. Zou told News 12 Long Island that Wen, his wife and three kids had recently been wound-up over ‘a couple’ of incidents where their house doors ‘were banged at midnight and evening’.
‘His three kids were terrified and worried that somebody tried to break their door and break in,’ Zou said.
The attorney also revealed that the night before Wen pointed a gun at the young boy, two people had knocked on the family’s door and ran away.
Unlike this instance, there was no candy left on the doorstep in the previous instances Wen’s attorney referred to.
The episode left local neighbors unnerved.
‘It’s supposed to be a happy, fun Halloween and something like this that happened, it’s just terrible. It’s just horrific,’ a Manhasset resident told WCBS. ‘All the parents are talking about it (Wen allegedly pulling the gun on a child). It’s very unnerving and very sad and very upsetting.’
Parents said many children were participating in the act of ‘ghosting’ – which is when treats are dropped at friends’ houses.
Just a misunderstanding…?
One neighbor told CBS News: ‘Ghosting, basically, it’s basically like Ding Dong Ditch.’
Told one local neighbor via ABC 7: ‘It’s horrific. The question is, what happens if it was your child? How would you feel?’
The unidentified victim’s mother said her son was ‘scared for his life’ after Wen pulled the weapon on him.
Wen’s attorney said that what happened was ‘totally a misunderstanding and a mistake’.
Wen was arraigned on Sunday morning at First District Court in Hempstead where he pled not guilty and released without bail. Wen is expected back in court on November 13.
He also had his gun license revoked due to the incident along with all his guns confiscated and will have to undergo a court-ordered mental health evaluation and anger management class.
Recurring episode of wrong doorbell and aggression
The incident is the latest in a series of high-profile cases involving people who ring the wrong doorbell and end up staring down the barrel of a gun.
In May, David Doyle was arrested on aggravated assault and battery charges after he allegedly shot a 14-year-old girl in the back of the head as she played hide-and-seek on his property in Louisiana.
On April 13, 16-year-old Ralf Yarl rang the wrong doorbell when he went to pick up his twin siblings in Kansas City. The homeowner, Andrew Lester, was charged with shooting the black teen in the head. The victim survived.
Two days later, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was looking for a friend’s house in Hebron, New York, when she was fatally shot by a homeowner after the vehicle she was riding in went to the wrong address by mistake.
Kevin Monahan, 65, was charged with second-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty, with his attorney arguing that the victim’s car was speeding and creating ‘an atmosphere and a fear that there was menace going on.’
