DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Courtesy of the New York Daily News
https://nydailynews.com
Cops seized a stunning array of weapons and 28,000 rounds of ammunition from the Queens apartment of an unstable Army vet after a girlfriend reported him to authorities, police said Thursday.
Suwei Chuang, 36, who had once failed a psychological screening administered by the NYPD, was nabbed Wednesday night in Manhattan after officers investigating the tip found an assault rifle in his SUV, cops and sources said. A subsequent search of his posh new Flushing apartment revealed the cache of guns.
Cops found a submachine gun, a 12-gauge shotgun, a 9-mm. Glock pistol, a .50-caliber rifle and a .22-caliber rifle scattered about his 40th Road flat, police said. The AR-15 assault rifle seized from his Toyota FJ Cruiser was fitted with a scope and fully loaded, officials said. Police also seized 800 rounds of ammo from the vehicle.
Chuang was turned in by a woman who had approached prosecutors about a menacing incident involving him, police sources said. Cops tracked him to lower Manhattan, where he parked about 8:45 p.m. near Gold and Spruce Sts. The assault rifle was in plain sight, cops said.
Chuang is a nephew of Queens activist and respected businessman Timothy Chuang, a family friend said from one of the entrepreneur’s Flushing drugstores.
Timothy Chuang did not return calls seeking comment. The nephew is facing a slew of weapons charges.
He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson about 10 years ago and served some six months in lockup, a source said, adding the court took into account Chuang’s psychological difficulties.
He had been examined by an NYPD psychologist before the arson. It was unclear why he was screened, but the psychologist found that Chuang had “poor stress tolerance, poor judgment, poor impulse control and immaturity,” the source said. Chuang is a naturalized citizen from Taiwan who served in the U.S. Army, police said.
See Thursday’s Queens Courier for more details and photos.
