25-year-old woman with bloodstained clothes arrested for fatal stabbing of prominent lawyer
Victim was imprisoned in China for two years in 1989 after protesting at Tiananmen Square
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A woman was arrested in New York and charged in connection with the death of a prominent immigration lawyer from Queens, according to authorities.
XiaoNing Zhang, 25, was apprehended on Monday at an office on Kissena Boulevard in Flushing, Queens, which belonged to 66-year-old immigration lawyer Jim Li.
Police were called to the scene to find Mr Li covered with blood and suffering stab wounds to his neck, shoulders and torso, said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
The victim, who was imprisoned in China for two years in 1989 after protesting at the pro-democracy movement at Tiananmen Square, was rushed to a nearby hospital but died as a result of his injuries.
A colleague told The New York Times that screams could be heard coming from Mr Li’s office and that Ms Zhang was allegedly found standing behind the lawyer, who was injured and bleeding.
Ms Zhang, who reportedly brought a cake on Monday morning to thank staff for their work on her asylum application, was still at the scene when police arrived.
She was later arrested and charged with murder in the second degree and possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
“As alleged, the defendant showed up in her lawyer’s office armed with two knives and, in an outburst of rage, stabbed the victim repeatedly throughout his body,” said Ms Katz on Wednesday.
“Violence is never the solution to any dispute. Now a man is dead and a community grieving this tragic loss. The defendant is in custody and faces very serious charges for this senseless slaying.”
Two friends of Mr Li’s, Chuang Chuang Chen and and lawyer Wei Zhu, both told The New York Daily News that the killing might have been caused by him refusing to work for Ms Zhang.
His office told The Times that police were called to Jim Li & Associates on Friday when Ms Zhang became irate after Mr Li told her would no longer work on her asylum application. That remains unconfirmed.
Mr Li was thought to have worked for many Chinese expatriates living in the US who were considered as fugitives by that country and its ruling Communist party.
Ms Zhang. who reportedly arrived in the US on a student visa, will appear in court on Friday and she faces up to 25 years in prison if found guilty.
It was not clear if she had a lawyer.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.