Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on the 23rd that a Chinese man in Massachusetts has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Queens State Supreme Court for shooting a woman who had nothing to do with debt in Flushing in 2023, and must be supervised after serving five years of his sentence. The prosecutor pointed out that the suspect surnamed Zheng’s motive for committing the crime was only to intimidate the victim’s family to repay the debt, “just to send a message.”
According to case records and the district attorney’s statement, the suspect is Minliang Zheng, a 52-year-old Chinese man living in Quincy, Massachusetts. On February 26, 2023, Zheng went to the home of a 57-year-old Chinese woman living in Flushing, claiming that her relatives owed money and would “involve the family” if they did not repay. In the following days, Zheng appeared near the woman’s home many times, staying for several hours each time, and the mobile phone positioning also showed that he monitored the other party’s whereabouts for a long time.
At about 10:30 a.m. on March 19 of the same year, a gray Honda Odyssey van registered in the name of Zheng Minliang appeared near the residence again, and then followed the sister of the above-mentioned woman, the victim, who was about 45 years old, all the way to the 229th Street area in Queens; around 12:30 p.m., when the victim was loading clothes into the car, Zheng got out of the car and approached, claiming that “the boss asked me to come to get the money”, and then pulled out a gun and fired at the upper thigh of the victim. The surveillance camera clearly captured the shooting scene. The victim was terrified and closed the door to escape. Zheng forcibly opened the car door and threatened that if the money was not paid back, he would “kill everyone in your family”, and then quickly drove away.
The prosecutor emphasized that the victim had nothing to do with any debt dispute and had never met Zheng, which showed that his motive for the crime was purely intimidation and revenge.
After the police investigation, it was found that Zheng fled back to Massachusetts after committing the crime, and was arrested by local police on August 8 and taken back to New York in November. Based on communication records, vehicle movements and surveillance images, the prosecution successfully established a complete chain of evidence.
On June 9 this year, the jury found Zheng guilty of assault and illegal possession of weapons. The trial lasted for a month, and the jury only took one hour to reach a guilty verdict. On the 23rd, the presiding judge Karen Gopee sentenced him.
Zheng originally faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, but was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison. Katz said, “He fired at close range in broad daylight, just to send a threatening message, and he also tried to flee the state to evade responsibility. Thanks to the help of Massachusetts law enforcement agencies, we can bring him to justice.”
