A former NYPD cop who shot and wounded her ex-girlfriend and killed the woman her ex was currently dating has pleaded guilty — but survivor Jenny Li still carries emotional scars along with the bullet that struck her.
Li, 26, told the Daily News Tuesday in her first-ever public comments that Yvonne Wu’s guilty plea and likely prison sentence don’t compare to the agony Li has suffered over the past three years.
“I’m still feeling pain. A bullet is still in me and they (doctors) said there is nothing they can do and to take it out would only make it worse,” Li said.
“Emotionally I am still recovering from everything. It’s something that I deal with every single day. I did get shot in my lung. I’m still feeling pain. It’s a right step toward justice. I just feel like there’s no sentencing that’s enough for what she did.”
Wu, 34, entered the guilty plea Thursday to manslaughter and attempted murder charges for wounding Li and fatally shooting Jamie Liang, 24, on Oct. 13, 2021, in Li’s Brooklyn apartment the Attorney General’s office said.
Wu was fired from the NYPD on Monday. She faces a possible 27-year prison term when she is sentenced Aug. 28.
Liang’s parents Ying Liang and Kwee Liang remain stricken with grief at the loss of their daughter.
“No amount of years will bring my daughter back,” Ying Liang said of the upcoming sentencing. “She was a good person, generous, selfless. No one should have been killed, especially Jaime. To this day I still don’t understand why her.”
COPSHOOT
Ying Liang said he knew his daughter wanted a specific tattoo but she died before she could get it so he got the same tattoo — two triangles inside a circle — on the back of his right arm as a tribute to his daughter. The family has left Jaime’s room at home untouched.
“I don’t know what it means. I just knew she wanted it so I got it,” he said. “It’s difficult.”
Liang was a dental student at NYU when she was killed. “She would be 27 years old now,” her dad said. “She would have graduated. She would have been a dentist. She was smart and she worked hard. It should have never happened to someone like her.”
The case was prosecuted by the office of state Attorney General Letitia James under a 2015 executive order which allows the office to act as special prosecutor when a police officer takes the life of a civilian. Wu’s defense lawyer, Lawrence Fredella, did not reply a call from the Daily News.
Wu remains held without bail at the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers Island.
The Li and Liang families have sued the city for $25 million alleging the NYPD was aware Wu was emotionally distressed but allowed her to keep her service weapon prior to the shootings.
Love Triangle
“They knew or should have known about her psychological condition and taken action,” said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein, who represents both Li and Liang’s parents.
“The message is clear that the NYPD has failed the people of the city in allowing guns to be in the hands of people who are unfit. The department needs to look at how to prevent this from happening again.”
Jamie Liang’s dad echoed that sentiment. “If the NYPD had identified (Wu’s) problem earlier it would have prevented all of this,” Ying Liang said.
On Oct. 13, 2021, Wu was off-duty when she entered Li’s Bensonhurst home through an unlocked back door and opened fire with six rounds from her police-issued Glock 19 when Li and Liang came home.
COPSHOOT
Liang died at Maimonides Medical Center. Li survived after being hit in the chest, with a round striking her lungs and arteries.
“I shot them both,” she told cops at the scene, according to sources. “The gun’s inside. You can take me in.”
In the weeks prior to the shooting Wu got into an argument with Li and Liang at least once, The News previously reported.
But Li did not report the incident to the NYPD, a friend of hers told The News in 2021.
“It should have been prevented,” the friend said at the time. “The cop was already stalking them … [Jenny] didn’t want the police involved. She wanted to handle it on her own. She thought she could handle it.”
Li intends to testify at sentencing. The Liangs have yet to decide.
“I am trying to get back to my normal self, my normal schedule, but it’s something that I don’t know if I can even recover from,” Li said. “And the physical things are a reminder of everything that happened.”
