A Pennsylvania mom sentenced to life in prison for brutally murdering her two young sons also tried to shoot their 19-year-old cousin — but the gun miraculously jammed and he was able to disarm her, according to harrowing security footage shown by prosecutors this week.
Trinh Nguyen, 40, was sentenced on Wednesday to two consecutive life terms for killing her sons in May 2022 and received an additional 10 to 20 years for the attempted murder of her ex-husband’s nephew, who was also a neighbor.
Moments after shooting 9-year-old Nelson Tini and 13-year-old Jeffrey Tini in their beds as they slept, the deranged mother pulled a gun on Gianni Melchiondo outside of her home in the upscale Upper Makefield Township in eastern Pennsylvania.
Nguyen attempted to shoot but the gun never fired, giving Melchiondo a chance to disarm her, prosecutors said.
Video from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office shared on the Bucks County Courier Times’ website shows Nguyen hand a box to Melchiondo — reportedly photos for him to give to her ex-husband — before drawing the gun.
He drops the box, grabs her, and tries to wrestle the gun from her.
They disappear out of view as Melchiondo is heard yelling, “Trinh! Drop it!”
They reappear, with Melchindo holding the gun, as he shoves her to the ground.
Shocked, he notices that the gun is loaded.
“I could have died,” he said.
The arguing ensues as Nguyen shrieks and tries to get the weapon back.
She eventually flees to a white minivan.
“I thank the Lord all the time that the gun misfired,” Melchiondo’s mother, who was also the boys’ aunt, testified in court, according to a press release from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
First Assistant District Attorney Jen Schorn at the hearing called the feat “nothing short of remarkable” and said Melchiondo’s bravery likely prevented Nguyen from continuing a murderous rampage.
Nguyen had planned the slayings for more than a week, The Post reported, and left a will blaming others for the problems in her life, including the imminent eviction from her home.
She had been months behind on rent, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
A year earlier, she filed for divorce from Ed Tini, the father of her youngest son, according to reports. Schorn said in an interview that prosecutors believe her rampage was in part to “make her ex-husband pay.”
The boys, who were both shot in the head, died from their injuries at the hospital four days later.
The slideshow presented at the hearing showed photos of the brothers, who were remembered as caring and fun-loving, smiling side by side and playing baseball, one of the many sports they enjoyed.
After drawing the weapon on Tini’s nephew, Nguyen fled in a minivan to New Jersey to buy heroin, which she tried to ingest in a failed suicide attempt.
Detectives later found ammunition and drugs in the vehicle.
The negotiated plea and sentence “will ensure that the defendant will die within the four walls of a correctional facility,” Schorn said on Wednesday.
