Upper Makefield Mom Gets Life Sentences For Shooting Sons In Head

An Upper Makefield Township mother pleaded guilty to killing her two young sons and she will serve two life sentences.

Trinh Nguyen, 40, admitted to the killings and accepted the sentence from Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Raymond McHugh at the Justice Center on Wednesday afternoon.

The judge sentenced the 40-year-old woman to the two life sentences without parole and 10 to 20 years behind bars for the attempted murder of a neighbor. The sentences will run consecutively.

Trang Nguyen fatally shot her two sons – Nelson Tini, 9, and Jeffrey Tini, 13 – in the family’s rented Upper Makefield Township home on May 2, 2022, investigators said.

The children were taken to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where they died several days later.

Friends and family of the boys were in court for the sentencing.

“It’s clear our evidence showed that this defendant had that wickedness of disposition that she had made these plans,” First Assistant District Attorney Jen Schorn said. “She wrote a manifesto laying out what she was going to do, and you could see throughout the hate she had for others and the people she blamed.”

The incident occurred amid Nguyen’s eviction proceedings and a custody dispute with her ex-husband following their 2021 divorce.

Authorities reported Nguyen had planned the killings at least a week in advance, leaving a note regarding the handling of her sons’ bodies.

After the shooting, Nguyen confronted a neighbor, who was relative of her ex-husband. She attempted to shoot him after handing over a box of photos.

The gun malfunctioned, leading to a scuffle that led to Nguyen being disarmed.

Nguyen fled in a minivan, sparking a countywide manhunt involving multiple agencies.

Nguyen was apprehended at 11:30 a.m. on the same day in her vehicle at The Crossing Church in Washington Crossing. Police flooded the scene.

Nguyen claimed to have traveled to New Jersey for narcotics, which she took in a failed suicide attempt.

The district attorney’s office had explored pursuing the death penalty in the case, filing a notice of aggravating circumstances earlier this year.

Shorn, the prosecutor assigned to the case, said thanked the Bucks County Detectives and Upper Makefield Township police for their efforts on the emotional case.