Mentally Ill Man Butchers 4 Children with Meat Cleaver

A gruesome Sunday morning assault in Brooklyn has left four young children slashed and bloodied — and once again raised alarms about America’s broken mental health system and failures in city oversight.

The suspect, 49-year-old Lun Chang Chen, reportedly a relative of the victims, attacked the children — all nieces or possibly his own kids — with a meat cleaver and a kitchen knife inside a Bensonhurst apartment. The youngest victims are just 8 years old.

Police say Chen was shot three times — once in the head and twice in the torso — after he ignored repeated commands to drop his weapon and lunged at NYPD officers.

“He was holding a blood-soaked cleaver,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed at a press conference. “Our officers had no choice.”

All four children were rushed to Maimonides Medical Center with non-life-threatening but serious injuries. One girl, just 11 years old, managed to barricade herself inside a room and called 911 — a move authorities say likely saved lives.

“She was incredibly brave,” Tisch added. “She stayed calm, even after being slashed herself.”

A fifth child, a 12-year-old boy, escaped and ran for help. He was not injured.

The 911 call came in around 10:15 a.m. Sunday morning. Officers arrived to hear screams from inside the home on 84th Street and kicked down the door.

What they found was horrifying: children bleeding on the floor, and Chen still armed and unhinged.

Sources say one girl was stabbed in the head and neck ten times. Another had her finger severed. The oldest child, just 16, was babysitting the others when the violence erupted.

Photos obtained by The Post show a child drenched in blood outside the building. Another image shows Chen being wheeled out on a stretcher, clinging to life after the officer-involved shooting.

According to law enforcement sources, Chen was previously hospitalized for schizophrenia. His family allegedly warned the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) last year, saying he threatened to “kill everyone.”

ACS declined to comment, hiding behind privacy laws — again.

“This tragedy could’ve been prevented,” said State Sen. Steve Chan, a retired NYPD officer. “We’ve seen this before. Mentally unstable individuals fall through the cracks until it’s too late.”

Chan doubled down on the need for involuntary mental health treatment, especially for individuals flagged as violent.

“We need to get serious,” he said. “This was a clear case of a danger to others — and the system sat on its hands.”

Local Assemblyman Lester Chang, who represents the area and is Chinese-American, said cultural stigma in the Asian community makes it even harder to intervene in cases of mental illness.

“People think asking for mental health help is shameful,” Chang said. “We have to change that mindset — or we’ll see more of these tragedies.”

He added: “These kids will need a lifetime of support. This family will never be the same.”

This horrific case is part of a growing pattern in New York and other blue-run cities — where mentally ill individuals are left untreated, even after showing signs of violent behavior.

Under Mayor Eric Adams, critics say the city’s response to mental health emergencies has been inconsistent and reactive, rather than proactive and preventive.

“We need leadership that protects families — not bureaucracy that buries warnings,” said a retired NYPD sergeant familiar with the case.

As of Monday evening, Chen remains in critical condition. The motive for the attack remains unclear, though police are treating it as a case of domestic violence fueled by untreated mental illness.

Whether this was a breakdown in city services, cultural silence, or both — four innocent children are now traumatized for life.

“We are lucky no one is dead,” Sen. Chan emphasized. “But we need to stop pretending luck is a policy.”