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Michael Yifan Wen (Nassau County Police Dept.) and the home where he allegedly pulled a gun on a 6-year-old (WNBC screenshot)
A 43-year-old man in New York was arrested over the weekend for allegedly pointing a gun at a 6-year-old after he saw the boy retrieving a candy-filled Halloween goody bag that had mistakenly been left on the man’s front porch. Michael Yifan Wen was taken into custody Saturday evening and charged with one count of second-degree menacing and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Nassau County Police Department, it was about 7:25 p.m. on Oct. 28 when a 42-year-old mother in Manhasset, on Long Island, drove her daughter, two sons, and nephew to a home located in the 100 block of Rockcrest Road, which is about 20 miles east of Manhattan.
The reason for stopping at the Rockcrest Road home was so that the woman’s 10-year-old daughter could drop off a Halloween “goody bag” to her friend.
Upon arriving at the destination, the daughter and her 6-year-old brother got out of the car and approached the house with the “goody bag full of candy,” rang the doorbell, and left the treats on the front porch before returning to their mother’s car, police said.
However, the 10-year-old girl soon realized that the address she had used for her friend “may have been incorrect,” meaning she and her brother had dropped off the candy at the wrong house. The mother then turned the car around and went back down the block, stopping once again in front of the Rockcrest Road house.
The 6-year-old then got out of the vehicle and went back up to the front door to get the bag so they could bring it to the correct house.
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“At this time, the front door opened, a male stepped out of the house and pointed a black handgun at the victim’s head,” per the release, which also identifies the gun-wielding male as Wen.
According to a copy of the criminal complaint obtained by New York NBC affiliate WNBC, when Wen pointed the handgun at the child’s head, he also yelled at him to “get the f— off my property.”
WCBS spoke to several residents in the area who told the station that they believed the children were playing a harmless game called “ghosting,” in which kids ring a friend’s doorbell and then run away, leaving a bag of treats on the porch.
“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.”
Wen’s attorney, William Zou, reportedly told CBS that the incident was just a misunderstanding and that when his client realized it was a child on his porch he immediately regretted his actions.
“I think what happened yesterday was totally a misunderstanding and a mistake. He and his family has been terrorized recently by constant banging on his door,” Zou told the station. “He just opened the door [and] reacted strongly, telling the person to get away from his property. By the time he realized it was a kid, he started to regret.”
Wen pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Sunday. His next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 13.
