Mom Allegedly Shot Young Sons in Head as They Lay in Bed

9- and 13-year-old are on life support until their organs can be donated
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 4, 2022 3:02 AM CDT
Cops: Mom Shot Sons, 9 and 13, in Heads as They Lay in Bed
Trinh Nguyen   (Bucks County District Attorney's Office)

A Pennsylvania mother is accused of shooting her two young sons in the head Monday morning as they lay in bed in their Bucks County home. Police responded to the Upper Makefield Township scene at 7:05am, called there by another person who lives at the address who reported Trinh Nguyen, 38, had given him a box of photos and asked him to give it to her ex-husband, the man's colleague. Then, the man told police, Nguyen tried to shoot him in the face, but her gun failed to fire, NBC Philadelphia reports. The man disarmed her, and she drove off in a minivan. Police then found her sons, ages 9 and 13, in their beds with gunshot wounds to their heads; they were apparently shot while sleeping, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

They were rushed to a hospital and one underwent surgery, but authorities say they won't survive. They are now on life support until their organs can be donated. Nguyen was located and arrested a few hours later; video of the arrest shows her wearing what appear to be pajamas, and police believe she was driving under the influence of drugs and that she may have taken narcotics in an attempt to end her own life, NBC News reports. She is charged with three counts of attempted homicide and a count of possession of an instrument of crime, and the DA says those charges will be upgraded to murder if the boys die.

Records show Nguyen's former sister-in-law, Corinna Tini-Melchiondo, owns the residence in the wealthy Philadelphia suburb where Nguyen and the children lived along with other members of the Melchiondo family (including the one Nguyen allegedly tried to shoot), and that Nguyen owed $11,000 in back rent and was due to be evicted Tuesday. Nguyen had divorced her landlord's brother Ed Tini, the father of the younger boy, in 2015. "I have two kids, and this couldn’t hit any closer to home,” the DA said during a press conference. "I’ve kept saying my prayers since I got the call this morning." (More Pennsylvania stories.)

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