Man Charged in Horrific Meat Cleaver Attack on 4 Young Girls After Niece's Heroic 911 Call

A New York man has been charged with with attempted murder after allegedly attacking his four nieces with a meat cleaver at his Brooklyn home before being shot by police.

Long Qian Chen, 49, was charged on Monday, April 7 with four counts of attempted murder, plus counts for assault in the first and second degree, menacing a police officer, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, the NYPD confirmed to PEOPLE.

Police responded to Chen’s Bensonhurst home Sunday morning after an 11-year-old girl called 911 to report she and her sisters had been stabbed by her uncle, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference that day.

Authorities kicked down the door to the home on 84th Street and allegedly found the uncle standing near the entrance, wielding a meat cleaver and drenched in blood.

Officers fired seven shots after the suspect refused to drop the weapon and then charged at them, Tisch said, in an incident captured on body-worn camera.

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Afterward, police found four girls, ages 8 to 16, with “serious slash and stab wounds” elsewhere in the apartment, Tisch said. They were treated with first aid before being removed to Maimonides Hospital, were all are expected to survive.

“All four children, thank God, are expected to survive,” Tisch noted. “But this could have ended very differently.”

Chen was also taken to Maimonides Hospital in critical condition. Law enforcement sources told PEOPLE that Chen, who was shot in the head and torso by police, remains hospitalized. He has not appeared before a judge and no arraignment date has been set. It’s also not clear if he has retained an attorney.