A 25-year old Chinese immigrant was charged with murder on Monday morning after stabbing his cousin-in-law and her four children to death in their Brooklyn home.

Mingdong Chen told police he had been staying with his cousin and his family for a little over a week and had started to resent their success, which officials believe may be the motive for the murders. Chen had allegedly been homeless for a while and had nowhere to stay when he came from China.

“He felt they had everything and that he had nothing. They were doing well and he was struggling just to get by,” a source told the New York Post.

Qiao Zhen Li, the cousin’s wife, reportedly noticed Chen acting strangely and attempted to call her husband at work, but to no avail. She then called her mother in China, who contacted Li’s sister in Brooklyn to check on the family. The sister reportedly showed up at the home with her husband to find a grisly scene: 9-year-old Linda Zhuo, 7-year-old Amy Zhuo, 18-month-old William Zhuo, 5-year-old Kevin Zhuo and Li were found in various rooms, all suffering from butcher knife wounds.

“Horrific, horrific crime,” Officer Philip Banks said. “It’s a scene you’ll never forget.”

Chen has been charged with five counts of both first-degree murder and second-degree murder and with assaulting a police officer.

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