NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Police have charged the man who allegedly mowed down pedestrians at random with a U-Haul truck in Brooklyn on Monday, killing one of his nine victims.
Weng Sor, 62, is charged with one count of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder for the attack, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said Tuesday.
Authorities were still considering charges related to a police officer who was hurt. Sor remained in police custody Tuesday. He was expected to be arraigned in court on the charges late Tuesday or on Wednesday. Court records did not list a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Sor, who lives in Las Vegas with his mother, had eight prior arrests in Vegas, including for DWI, domestic battery and evading police.
He is estranged from his son and wife, who live in Brooklyn, Essig said.
Sor rented the U-Haul in Florida on Feb. 1 and drove to New York.
While en route to New York, he was stopped in South Carolina on Feb. 5. for reckless driving and marijuana possession by state highway patrol. A tow invoice for that U-Haul was discovered after his arrest in New York.
He showed up at his ex-wife and son's home in Brooklyn on Feb. 6 to take a shower, police said. He went back to take another shower two days later and had an altercation with his son.
That same day, he was stopped by the New York City Highway Patrol on the Belt Parkway. Sor was in New Jersey on Sunday before he returned to Brooklyn on Monday.
Essig confirmed Tuesday that there is no connection to terrorism and it is "believed" that Sor was "suffering from a mental health crisis" based on interviews with family members and an interrogation.
Police said Sor thought he saw "an invisible object" coming toward his truck and said, "I've had enough" before plowing into people.
When he finally stopped after leading police on a chase that lasted more than an hour, Essig said, "You should have shot me."
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said Tuesday that NYPD investigators are working with other members of law enforcement to "build the strongest case possible" and "deliver a measure of justice to the victims."
Sor’s 48-minute spree injured nine men, including a police officer, across Bay Ridge, Sunset Park and Dyker Heights before his arrest at the entrance to the Battery Tunnel in Red Hook. The victims range in age from 30 to 66.
The mayhem began at 10:17 a.m., when he struck a 36-year-old man at Fourth Avenue and 55th Street. The man suffered a leg injury.
At 10:19 a.m., a 34-year-old man was struck at Fifth Avenue and Senator Street. He had injuries to his torso.
Two more men were struck between 10:30 a.m. and 10:40 a.m.—a 30-year-old man at Bay Ridge Parkway and Seventh Avenue, and a 51-year-old man at Bay Ridge Parkway and 12th Avenue. They suffered injuries to their leg and head, respectively.
The fatally wounded 44-year-old man was then run over at Bay Ridge Parkway and Fifth Avenue at 10:48 a.m. He suffered head injuries and was pronounced dead at an area hospital.
Mayor Eric Adams said the man, whose name has not been made public, was a single father “raising those children on his own.”
A 38-year-old man suffered injuries to his ankle when he was hit at Bay Ridge Parkway and Seventh Avenue at 10:50 p.m.
Then, at 11:05 a.m., the U-Haul hit a 33-year-old NYPD officer and a 32-year-old man at 72nd Street and Third Avenue. The officer suffered injuries to his leg, while the man sustained injuries to his head and torso.
The final victim, a 66-year-old man, was also struck around 11:05 a.m. at 73rd Street and Third Avenue. He suffered injuries to his neck and knee.
All of the surviving victims were in stable condition at hospitals.
Sor was pursued to Red Hook, where he was taken into custody at Hamilton Avenue and Columbia Street, police said.
Katherine Aronova said she saw the U-Haul run a red light, hit a delivery worker on an e-bike in the middle of the road and drag him a short distance.
“His face was covered with blood. He was unconscious,” and his shoes were scattered on the sidewalk, Aronova said. “The electric bicycle was destroyed completely.”
A security camera captured the truck clipping a scooter, then swerving onto a sidewalk and nearly plowing into a pedestrian, who dived to safety just in time. A police patrol car then followed the truck down the sidewalk at high speed.
“I was in shock and didn’t know what was happening until I saw the police patrol was chasing it,” a witness, Andrea Vasquez, said in Spanish. “Thank God that man saved himself,” she added of the person who narrowly escaped.
After the chase ended, authorities examined the vehicle to make sure it didn't contain explosives.
Councilman Justin Brannan, who represents Bay Ridge, told 1010 WINS the driver may have been suicidal.
“It sounds like this guy driving a U-Haul tore through Bay Ridge, from the top of Bay Ridge all the way into Sunset Park, just hitting everything in his way,” Brannan said. “And when police approached his U-Haul and tried to get him to pull over, he said something to the effect of, 'I want to die,’ and started driving on the sidewalk through Bay Ridge.”
"It seemed random but also completely on purpose," the councilman added. "It wasn’t like he had some medical episode. He knew what he was doing here."
His son, Stephen Sor, told the Associated Press that he was surprised when Weng Sor showed up in Brooklyn in the middle of the night. He said they didn't speak often and described their relationship as “rocky.”
“I try to just distance, as long as he leaves us alone," Stephen Sor said.
In 2015, Weng Sor stabbed his brother in Las Vegas and served about 17 months in a Nevada prison, according to court and prison records. In 2020, he stabbed someone in the arm and chest with a knife and was sentenced to 364 days in county jail, with about 10 months of time already served.
Before pleading guilty in that case, Sor underwent several months of evaluations at state psychiatric facilities until he was found competent to face charges, court records show. The records don’t list a possible diagnosis, but note that Sor was placed on medications.
In an earlier Nevada case, Sor was ordered to undergo counseling and perform community service after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery in 2005. The judge noted at the time that Sor was moving to New York and ordered him to submit to a mental health evaluation once there.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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