NYC U-Haul rampage suspect with violent past yet to be charged in attack that killed 1, injured 8 others

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Cyclist is mowed down by a U-Haul truck in Brooklyn

A man on a bicycle is run over while riding down 4th Avenue near 54th St. in Brooklyn, NY. CREDIT: Latin Comm 

The man accused of plowing a U-Haul into cyclists and scooter riders in Brooklyn, ultimately killing one person and injuring eight others including a police officer, has yet to be formally charged as of Tuesday morning but has been identified in reports as a man with a history of violence and mental health issues.  

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital a charging decision isn’t expected until sometime Tuesday afternoon. 

The spokesperson also declined to identify the victim who died pending next of kin notification. 

Weng Sor, 62, was ultimately arrested Monday after police were able to pin the careening U-Haul against a building following a miles-long pursuit in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. The man’s son, Stephen Sor, 30, identified him to The Associated Press. The New York Times also identified the suspect, citing three senior law enforcement officials. 

NEW YORK CITY PEDESTRIANS STRUCK, DRAGGED BY U-HAUL; NYPD BOMB SQUAD ON SCENE 

NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell described the incident as a "violent rampage," but said Monday afternoon there was no evidence of "terrorism involvement."

The mayhem unfolded over 48 minutes as the truck tore through the Bay Ridge area, hitting people at several points along the way before veering on and off a highway as police gave chase. The truck's winding route ended when a police cruiser cut it off and blocked it against a building near the entrance to a tunnel leading from Brooklyn to Manhattan, more than 3 miles from where the chase began.

This December 2018 photo provided by the Nevada Department of Corrections shows Weng Sor, who authorities say was driving a U-Haul truck that struck and injured several people in New York City before police stopped the vehicle.  (Nevada Department of Corrections via AP)

The nine people struck by the vehicle ranged in age from 30 to 66. All were men. One of the injured people was a police officer.

The 44-year-old man who was killed suffered a head injury when he was hit by the truck roughly a half hour after it struck the first victim, the police department said in a statement. 

New York City Councilman Justin Brannan, who initially tweeted about the Bay Ridge rampage before police would confirm details, said as he arrived to visit some of those hurt in the attack at NYC Langone Brooklyn Hospital, sadly, "we learned one of the victims who was in critical condition had succumbed to his injuries."

"Please keep them all in your prayers tonight," he added. Of the surviving victims, Brannan said one of them is a married father of two who "was on his way to get his taxes done when the driver of the U-Haul mowed him down." "He is now in a coma, fighting for his life. Please pray for him and keep his family in your thoughts tonight," Brannan added. 

The truck struck the first victim at 10:17 a.m., police said, and other reports followed as the vehicle moved through a busy section of Brooklyn, just north of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge along New York Harbor. 

In this photo taken from security video, a man jumps out of the way as a U-Haul truck drives onto the sidewalk on Feb. 13, 2023, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. (Jorge Aldaz via AP)

The AP described the neighborhood as a melting pot of immigrants from Europe, Asia and the Middle East, is known as the setting of "Saturday Night Fever," and parts of TV’s "Blue Bloods." Each fall, it hosts a leg of the New York City Marathon. 

Katherine Aronova said she saw the U-Haul run a red light, hit a delivery worker on an e-bike in the middle of the road and drag him a short distance.

"His face was covered with blood. He was unconscious," and his shoes were scattered on the sidewalk, Aronova told the AP. "The electric bicycle was destroyed completely."

A security camera captured the truck clipping a scooter, then swerving onto a sidewalk and nearly plowing into a pedestrian, who dived to safety just in time. A police patrol car then followed the truck down the sidewalk at high speed. 

Members of the NYPD bomb squad examine a rental truck that plowed into nine people on Feb. 13, 2023, in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn.  (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

After the chase ended, NYPD bomb squad members examined the vehicle to make sure it didn't contain explosives. The New York Times reported that investigators believe Sor might have been living in the U-Haul and officers found only clothing, bags, pieces of cardboard, strewn water bottles and empty Styrofoam coffee cups inside. 

Weng Sor rented the truck in West Palm Beach, Florida on Feb. 1 and was due to return it there on March 3, U-Haul spokesperson Jeff Lockridge said. He provided a valid driver’s license and paid for a 30-day rental in advance. U-Haul had no record of Sor previously renting from the company, Lockridge said.

Weng Sor's son, Stephen Sor, 30, told the AP that his father had a history of mental illness and, until recently, was living in Las Vegas, where records show he was convicted and served time for multiple acts of violence, including stabbing his own brother.

Viewed from a roof, caution tape covers the corner of Bay Ridge Avenue and 5th Avenue where pedestrians were struck on Feb. 13, 2023, in Brooklyn.  (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)

"Very frequently he’ll choose to skip out on his medications and do something like this," Stephen Sor said in an interview outside his Brooklyn home. "This isn’t the first time he’s been arrested. It’s not the first time he’s gone to jail."

Stephen Sor said he was surprised when Weng Sor showed up in Brooklyn in the middle of the night about a week ago. He said they didn't speak often and described their relationship as "rocky."

"I try to just distance, as long as he leaves us alone," Stephen Sor said.

NYPD gather at the scene where a rental truck was stopped and the driver arrested on Feb. 13, 2023, in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn.  (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

In 2015, Weng Sor stabbed his brother in Las Vegas and served about 17 months in a Nevada prison, according to court and prison records. In 2020, he stabbed someone in the arm and chest with a knife and was sentenced to 364 days in county jail, with about 10 months of time already served.

Before pleading guilty in that case, Sor underwent several months of evaluations at state psychiatric facilities until he was found competent to face charges, court records show. The records don’t list a possible diagnosis but note that Sor was placed on medications.

In an earlier Nevada case, Sor was ordered to undergo counseling and perform community service after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery in 2005. The judge noted at the time that Sor was moving to New York and ordered him to submit to a mental health evaluation once there.

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The Times reported that Sor had encounters with New York City police before the pandemic, during which officers described the man as appearing to be "emotionally disturbed." 

The Brooklyn destruction Monday shattered the late-morning routine and immediately evoked memories of other vehicle assaults on bikers and pedestrians in the crowded city, including a terrorist’s deadly 2017 attack that killed eight people on a Manhattan bike path and a disturbed motorist’s rampage through Times Square the same year that killed one and injured 20.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.