NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A Chinese man who's admitted to butchering his cousin's family in New York City is not mentally fit to stand trial, doctors say.
Mingdong Chen, 26, a Chinese national who was living with his cousin, his wife and their four children in a Brooklyn apartment in October, admitted to police he hacked the wife and the couple's five children to death with a meat cleaver, the New York Daily News said. The children ranged in age from 9 to just 1 year old.
After undergoing a complicated mental examination that required a translator because Chen only speaks Mandarin, two psychiatrists said the man is "exhibiting symptoms of a severe mental illness" that renders him incapable of assisting in his own legal defense.
Doctors said when pressed for why he killed the five people he first said he was "thinking about not having a wife and job." He later added, cryptically, "I thought they were using me to get a green card."
A judge ordered Chen held for treatment, after which his status would be re-evaluated.
