U-Haul driver blames ‘invisible object’ for deadly rampage

Weng Sor is walked by New York Police Department detectives out of the 68th Precinct in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. Sor was charged Tuesday with murder and attempted murder after he went on a deadly rampage with a U-Haul truck a day earlier in New York City. AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah

BAY RIDGE — A man who went on a deadly rampage with a U-Haul truck Monday in New York City was suffering from an apparent mental health crisis and said he started mowing people down after seeing an “invisible object” coming toward him, police said Tuesday.

Weng Sor, 62, was charged Tuesday with murder and attempted murder in the attack, which unfolded over a harrowing 48 minutes over a large swath of Brooklyn’s bustling Bay Ridge neighborhood. Police eventually pinned the truck against a building after a miles-long chase.

One person was killed and eight people were injured as the U-Haul truck veered onto sidewalks and plowed into bicyclists, moped riders and at least one pedestrian, hitting people at various points along a circuitous route. The truck also rammed a police car, and the officer inside was among the injured.

The scope and length of the destruction led to questions about the NYPD’s response and whether the pursuit — which at one point involved a police car speeding after the U-Haul up onto the sidewalk as a man dove to safety — put more people in harm’s way.

Sor, a troubled man with a history of violence and mental illness, told police that seeing an “invisible object” set him off, Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters Tuesday. Sor’s family said he’d stopped taking his medication, Essig said.

“He states when he’s driving his van he sees an ‘invisible object’ come towards the car. At that point, he says, ‘I’ve had enough’ and he goes on his rampage,” Essig said. “There was no object.”

Sor, who lived in Las Vegas with his mother, came to New York last week after spending time in Florida…

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