Brooklyn Kids Beaten In Hammer Attack Learn To Walk Again

SUNSET PARK, NY — Sophia and David, 3 and 5, are learning to walk again after a brutal hammer attack in their Sunset Park home claimed their mother's life and left the brother and sister critically injured, doctors said Thursday.

The two young children could return home in as soon as three weeks, said Sandra Tomita, Director of Pediatric Trauma at Bellevue Hospital.

“Sophia and David’s remarkable recovery has been boosted by the profound bond between the two siblings,” Tomita said.

“They’re currently both now in our pediatric ward side by side, speaking, smiling, eating and playing together with their family at their bedside."

David and Sophia will soon move from Bellevue Hospital into a rehabilitation facility, where they could recover within three to six weeks, Tomita said.

Both arrived at Bellevue in critical condition after the Aug. 23 attack at their apartment on 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The kids’ roommate, Liyong Ye, attacked the children and killed their mother, Zhao Zhao, with a hammer, prosecutors contend.

Despite their extensive injuries, the children have made “remarkable” progress, Tomita said Thursday outside Bellevue, alongside over a dozen pediatric healthcare providers, electeds and lawyers.

But the two young siblings have a long road ahead of them.

Both “outgoing” and “smart” children by nature, David and Sophia have changed since the attack, their father Jing Hong Liu said through a translator. David has become very shy and timid.

“I constantly remind myself to stay strong for my children but it’s heartbreaking to see the various injuries on my son and daughter’s face and head,” Liu said.

“I don’t understand how someone could be so cruel.”

Their mother, Zhao, died shortly after the attack. She cared for her children alone while her husband, Liu, sent money back from his work in Ohio and visited monthly.

Zhao and the children lived for five years at the Sunset Park apartment, which they shared with two other families, and had “gotten along very well with her neighbors and friends,” Liu said.

A woman who lost her own parents young and persisted through three miscarriages, Zhao was a fierce mother who raised two bright children, Liu said.

“My wife is [an] extremely kind person and she always leaves the best for her children, taking care of them in every way possible. She nurtured them with great care, and they thrived, becoming bright and beloved by many,” Liu said. “She managed the demanding task of caring for two little ones on her own without a single complaint.”

Prosecutors said Zhao and her accused killer used to fight about their living conditions.

The two children also received financial support from the 2,800 donors who raised $200,000 for them on GoFundMe. That money will be put into a trust, rather than registered as taxable income, to maximize its impact, lawyers with Anderson and Associates Law.

This way, the trust will ensure the money provides the kids support for years to come, according to Tiffany Wong with Anderson and Associates Law, PC.

To state Assembly Member Lester Chang, Liu and Zhao’s story is one shared by many New York City immigrant families just trying to make ends meet in a city with constantly increasing housing costs.

“There’s a lesson to be learned in this tragic story,” Chang said. “The stresses of life, making a living. While I don’t know the exact circumstances, we can imagine the close quarters living in this kind of environment, these immigrant families.”

“There’s no winners in here.”