A Long Island man allegedly pointed a gun at the head of a 6-year-old boy who mistakenly left a Halloween goody bag with candy on his front porch.
The frightening incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Manhasset, where a 42-year-old woman drove her daughter, two sons and a nephew to drop off the bag at 138 Rockcrest Road, Nassau County police said.
The 6-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister rang the doorbell of the home she believed to be her friend’s and left the candy on the porch before leaving, according to cops.
But after their mom drove off, the girl told her the address may have been incorrect so they returned to the home, where the boy jumped out of the car and went to retrieve the bag.
“At this time, the front door opened, a male stepped out of the house and pointed a black handgun at the victim’s head,” police said.
The man yelled “Get the f–k off my property!” at the boy, WNBC reported, citing a criminal complaint.
The suspect — identified as 43-year-old Michael Yifan Wen — was arrested without incident on charges of second-degree menacing and endangering the welfare of a child.
He was arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead, where he pleaded not guilty to both charges and was released without bail, Newsday reported.
An order of protection was reportedly issued and he is due back in court on Nov. 13.
On Monday, authorities said all of Wen’s firearms have been confiscated.
He declined to comment to Newsday, citing advice from his Queens-based attorney, William X. Zou.
The lawyer told News 12 Long Island that Wen, his wife and three children had been on edge because there were “a couple” of incidents in which the doors to his home “were banged at midnight and evening.”
On the night before the incident, “two strangers knocked on his door and ran away,” Zou told the outlet. “His three kids were terrified and worried that somebody tried to break their door and break in.”
He told CBS News about the Saturday incident: “He just opened the door, react strongly, tell the person to get away from his property. By the time he realized it was a kid, he started to regret.”
“I think what happened yesterday was totally a misunderstanding and a mistake. He and his family has been terrorized recently by constant banging on his door,” Zou said told CBS News.
Parents said they believe the woman’s children were “ghosting,” which they described as a popular game of dropping treats to friends’ homes.
“Ghosting, basically, it’s basically like Ding Dong Ditch. You leave a bag of candy, ring the doorbell, bang on the doorbell and run away. It’s usually your friends,” one neighbor who took his kids ghosting told CBS News.
After his arrest, the boy’s mother reportedly told police, “My son was scared for his life.”
The incident is the latest in a series of high-profile cases involving people who ring the wrong doorbell and end up staring down the barrel of a gun.
In May, David Doyle was arrested on aggravated assault and battery charges after he allegedly shot a 14-year-old girl in the back of the head as she played hide-and-seek on his property in Louisiana.
On April 13, 16-year-old Ralf Yarl rang a wrong doorbell when he went to pick up his twin siblings in Kansas City. The homeowner, Andrew Lester, was charged with shooting the black teen in the head. The victim survived.
Two days later, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was looking for a friend’s house in Hebron, New York, when she was fatally shot by a homeowner after the vehicle she was riding in went to the wrong address by mistake.
Kevin Monahan, 65, was charged with second-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty, with his attorney arguing that the victim’s car was speeding and creating “an atmosphere and a fear that there was menace going on.”
