MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING NEPHEW HELD WITHOUT BAIL
The Arlington man pleaded not guilty
The man accused of striking his nephew with his car and then shooting him to death outside a Medford courthouse Thursday afternoon pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bail.
Chenghai Xue, 44, of Arlington, appeared before Judge William Fitzpatrick at Somerville District Court Friday morning for his arraignment, accompanied by a court-appointed Mandarin interpreter. Xue faces charges of murder and assault to murder and had a not guilty plea entered on his behalf.
“It appears something serious and very tragic happened yesterday at the courthouse, and anything beyond that is pretty dangerous speculation,” defense attorney Leonard Milligan said in a brief statement following the hearing. “There’s a lot of investigation that has to happen to understand who and why things happened the way they did.”
Medford police first responded to multiple reports of gunshots in the area of the district courthouse at around 4:50 p.m., according to the statement of probable cause that was largely read aloud in court by prosecutor Ceara Mahoney, an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County.
The scene at first looked like a traffic accident, according to a court document. Xue’s white Chevy Equinox had extensive front-end damage and a black Toyota RAV4 had damage to the driver’s side rear wheel well. But lying in front of that wheel well was Xue’s nephew, Cong Wang, 23, “covered in blood” and with brain matter visible. He was declared dead at the scene.
Cops say Xue was lying facedown on the ground nearby, according to the doc, with blood visible on his hands and in his hair. A witness told police he had seen Wang pinned between the two vehicles before seeing another man, who the police say is Xue, exit the Equinox and shoot Wang several times.
The probable cause statement alleged that surveillance footage shows the Equinox slamming into Wang at a high rate of speed. A total of 10 shell casings were allegedly recovered from the scene.
Xue and Wang had both just left the court following a Restraining Order Extension hearing where a judge ruled not to extend an order restraining Wang from Xue and his ex-wife, who according to Milligan was the only other family member present at Thursday’s arraignment.
A probable cause hearing has been scheduled for May 4 at 10 a.m.