A Long Island, New York, resident was arrested after being accused of pointing a gun at a 6-year-old who mistakenly placed a Halloween candy bag on his doorstep.
Michael Yifan Wen, a 43-year-old who lives in Manhasset, was charged with menacing in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child.
Nassau County Police said a woman was driving her children to her 10-year-old daughter’s friend’s house to drop off a goody bag on Saturday night. Her two sons and nephew were also in the car.
Her daughter and 6-year-old son walked up to the door, rang the bell, and dropped off the candy on the porch before getting back into the car. However, when they were driving away, the daughter informed the mother that they had dropped it off at the wrong address.
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When they returned to the same home, the son hopped out of the car to grab the bag. Then “the front door opened,” and Wen “stepped out of the house and pointed a black handgun at the victim’s head,” authorities alleged.
According to court documents viewed by News 12, the mother begged the man not to harm her child, yelling, “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”
Wen’s attorney said that his client and family had recently experienced people banging on the front door of their home “at midnight and evening” on separate occasions, including the day before the incident happened, the outlet reported.
“I think what happened yesterday was totally a misunderstanding and a mistake,” attorney Williams Zou told CBS News. “He and his family has been terrorized recently by constant banging on his door.”
Residents in the area said that the children were playing a game dubbed “ghosting” where they knock or ring the doorbell of their friend’s house, leave the goody bag on their porch, and run away, a father explained to the outlet.
Wen, whose gun license was suspended, said no candy was ever placed on his porch before that night, according to News 12.
