NEW YORK, USA (AP) — A Chinese immigrant was arrested yesterday on five counts of murder in the deaths of his cousin’s wife and her four children in a stabbing rampage in their Brooklyn home.

The New York Police Department said the suspect, 25-year-old Ming Don Chen, implicated himself in the stabbings late Saturday in the Sunset Park neighbourhood. Chief of Department Phil Banks said the victims “were cut and butchered with a kitchen knife”.

Two girls, 9-year-old Linda Zhuo and 7-year-old Amy Zhuo, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with the youngest child, 1-year-old William Zhuo. Their brother, 5-year-old Kevin Zhuo, and 37-year-old mother, Qiao Zhen Li, were taken to hospitals, where they also were pronounced dead.

Chen is a cousin of the children’s father and had been staying at the home for the past week or so, Banks said. Chen was in custody and wasn’t immediately available to comment.

Bob Madden, who lives nearby, was out walking his dog when he saw a man being escorted from the building by police. He was barefoot, wearing jeans, and “he was staring, he was expressionless,” Madden said.

Yuan Gao, a cousin of the mother, said the man had recently moved to the area and had been staying with different people.

Fire department spokesman Jim Long said emergency workers responded, just before 11 pm, to a 911 call from a person stabbed at the residence in Sunset Park, a working-class neighbourhood of adjoining two-storey brick buildings with a large Chinese community.

Neighbour May Chan told the Daily News it was “heartbreaking” to learn of the deaths.

“I always see (the kids) running around here,” Chan said. “They run around by my garage playing. They run up and down screaming.”