A former New York City police officer pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing a woman she had found in her ex-girlfriend’s apartment and trying to kill the ex-girlfriend as well.
The officer, Yvonne Wu, 34, admitted to using her department-issued gun in 2021 to fatally shoot Jamie Liang, 24, and wound Jenny Li, whom she had dated, in an episode at Ms. Li’s Brooklyn home, according to the office of Letitia James, New York’s attorney general.
Ms. Wu, who has been held on Rikers Island, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Criminal Court last week to first-degree manslaughter and attempted murder, Ms. James said in a news release on Monday. She is to be sentenced Aug. 28 and the attorney general recommended that she receive 27 years in prison.
“Twenty-seven years — there’s no amount of years that will bring justice or comfort to us,” said Ying Cai Liang, Ms. Liang’s father.
Lawrence J. Fredella, Ms. Wu’s lawyer, could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
Ms. Wu was off duty at the time of the shooting. Before she was dismissed from the Police Department, she had worked there for five and a half years and had been assigned to a Brooklyn precinct.
Ms. Wu was waiting in Ms. Li’s apartment in the Bensonhurst neighborhood on Oct. 13, 2021, when Ms. Li arrived with Ms. Liang in the late afternoon, according to police reports. The police received several 911 calls around 5 p.m.
When officers arrived, they discovered Ms. Li lying on the bedroom floor and Ms. Liang on the living room floor. Ms. Liang had been shot at least once in the chest and was pronounced dead soon after. Ms. Li had been wounded in the torso.
At a news conference after the shooting, Chief Michael Kemper, then the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, said Ms. Wu had calmly confessed to the shooting when officers came to the apartment.
In September 2022, Ms. Li and Ms. Liang’s father filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Liang’s estate against the city and Ms. Wu, claiming that the city had known that Ms. Wu was “suffering from psychological issues” that rendered her unfit to have a gun, but had permitted her to keep one anyway.
Ms. Liang had been studying at New York University to become a dentist. She would have graduated from the school’s dentistry program this May. N.Y.U. has dedicated a page in its yearbook to Ms. Liang, her family said.
On Monday, Ms. Liang’s mother, Elaine Liang, said she remained “extremely heartbroken.” Speaking through tears, she described Ms. Liang as “a very good daughter.”
“Every night I still miss her. That’s all I have to say,” she said.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
