A Pennsylvania mother has been charged after being accused of shooting her two sons in their beds.
Trinh Nguyen, 38, is charged with shooting her 13- and 9-year-old boys in the head as they lay in their beds Monday morning, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Nguyen is also accused of trying to shoot her neighbor, who happens to be her ex-husband’s nephew, but her gun did not fire.
“Trinh Nguyen handed him a box of photos outside of the residence and asked him to give the box to her ex-husband whom he worked with. When (he) turned around to face Nguyen, he saw Nguyen pointing a black revolver to his face. Nguyen then pulled the trigger two times, but by the grace of God, the gun did not fire,” Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said, according to WPVI.
The man disarmed her by wrapping her in “a bear hug,” officials said, according to WPVI.
She then drove off but was eventually caught about two hours later.
Law enforcement took her to an area hospital because it appeared that she was under the influence of drugs, Weintraub said, according to WPVI.
The motive for the shooting is not yet known, but police are continuing their investigation, the Inquirer reported.
Officials said that Nguyen had been in a court fight with her landlord, Corinna Tini-Melchiondo, for several months, accused of not paying more than $11,000 in rent. A judge had ruled in the landlord’s favor and ordered Nguyen and her family to leave the home by Tuesday.
Tini-Melchiondo is the sister of Nguyen’s ex-husband Ed Tini, the Inquirer reported. She is also the mother of the man that Nguyen is accused of trying to shoot, the Courier Times reported.
Nguyen lived in a part of a duplex shared by the Melchiondo family.
Nguyen is charged with four counts of felony attempted homicide and one count of possessing an instrument of crime, which is a misdemeanor, the Courier Times reported.
Her sons were not expected to survive and were being kept alive until their organs could be donated. Once that happens, the charges against Nguyen will be upgraded to homicide, Weintraub said, according to WPVI.
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