Man distraught after watching fellow good Samaritan in Sunset Park stabbing die
SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A man who was wounded when he intervened in a robbery outside an illegal gambling den in Brooklyn is mourning the death of another man who was killed in the altercation.
Youngfa Liu, was one of four people injured.
He is distraught over the death of Yong Zheng, a 46-year-old man stabbed to death when he tried to intervene as an Asian man was being robbed on 7th Avenue Friday night.
Speaking in Chinese, Liu told Eyewitness News that he saw the same robbery and tried to intervene, himself.
Detectives say surveillance video shows him and Zheng trying to save the man and were both stabbed by the thieves.
"Two robbers came up to me and stabbed me two times. There were other people trying to help me press my wound to try to stop thebleeding and this is when I saw Mr. Zheng was shooting out blood right there. He was slowly getting down to the floor and everyone was trying to help him press the would and help him stop bleeding," Liu said through an interpreter.
Liu was stabbed in the arm and in the chest and suffered a punctured lung, but he said watching Zheng die was devastating.
The two men did not know one another, yet when asked if he would do the same thing over again, Liu answered, "of course."
"We would like to express our condolences towards Yong's family. This is going to be a pain for me and my brother for a very long time," Liu's sister, Aizhu, said through an interpreter.
Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Sunset Park Wednesday to condemn Zheng's killing.
"We call Mr. Zheng our community hero. So we want to let people know, stop the violence," Sunset Park community leader Lina Chen said.
Zheng was returning home when he saw groups of men fighting in the street.
Believing an innocent Asian man was being attacked, he and a friend tried to intervene.
As Zheng's four-year-old son wiped away his mother's tears, Zheng's widow told Eyewitness News the crime has left her devastated.
"He heard robbery. He didn't know what was going on. He saw a crime and he tried to stop it," Jin Zhao said through an interpreter.
But it was not a bias attack, after all.
It was an armed robbery outside an illegal gambling hall.
Police later arrested an ex-con from Brownsville who had once served time for another killing.
"We want to cry. These bad men didn't just kill Mr. Zheng, they killed an entire family," Chen said.
Zheng's friend who also intervened was injured, but has since been released from the hospital.
One of the suspects is in custody, but detectives are still seeking several accomplices.
Anybody with information that could track them down is urged to call the NYPD.
ALSO READ | Arrest made in stabbing death of good Samaritan who tried to stop robbery in Brooklyn
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