NYC Daycare Attacker Slashed Babies 'For No Apparent Reason': DA

EAST FLUSHING, NY — A caregiver's alleged attack on three babies at an East Flushing home last week was apparently random, the Queens district attorney said Monday. Yufen Wang of Flushing was arraigned Monday evening on charges of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with Friday's assault at the 161st Street residence, prosecutors said.

Wang, 52, allegedly stabbed and slashed the infant girls — who ranged in age from just 13 to 33 days — "for no apparent reason" before stabbing a father who tried to stop her, District Attorney Richard Brown said in a news release. She faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted in the case.

"The defendant was hired to care for and protect the infants, sadly she was the danger," Brown said in a statement. "This kind of senseless violence can not go unpunished and the defendant now faces a lengthy term of incarceration."

Wang is also accused of attacking a female co-worker at the three-story residential building, which police have said may have been a nursery. The address does not appear in state or city databases of licensed child care providers.

Wang's alleged attack left the baby girls with various injuries, prosecutors said, with the youngest suffering knife wounds to her face, chest and abdomen.

Two knives were recovered from the crime scene, the DA's office said: One on the first floor that Wang used to attack the victims, and another in the basement, where she was found with what appeared to be self-inflicted neck and wrist wounds.

Wang was ordered held without bail. She is next due in court on Oct. 19, the DA's office said.

(Lead image: Yufen Wang allegedly attacked five people, including three babies, at this building in Queens on Friday. Photo by Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)