Exclusive | Maniac who slashed his 4 nieces in NYC clinging to life as sources revealed he suffers from schizophrenia

The Brooklyn maniac who brutally slashed four young girls with a meat cleaver is still clinging to life after undergoing emergency surgery – as sources revealed that he had been hospitalized for schizophrenia in the past.Lun Chang Chen, 49, was shot once in the head and twice in the torso as he allegedly lunged at cops who rushed to the bloody scene inside the Bensonhurst home on Sunday morning, police said.Four children between the ages of 8 and 13 were found bloodied and slashed when police arrived – including a wounded11-year-old girl who locked herself in a room and called 911, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a briefing following the attacks.WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENTAll of the children were rushed to Maimonides Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, the commissioner said.A fifth child, a 12-year-old boy, fled the apartment to get help when the attacks began and was not injured, police said.Chen was identified as a relative of the girls – possibly an uncle or the father of some of the kids, Tisch said Sunday.A motive for the bloody attack has not been determined, but law enforcement sources said the family told investigators that he has a history of mental illness.The mayhem unfolded around 10:15 a.m.Sunday, when the 11-year-old girl called 911 to say her uncle had stabbed her and her siblings, police said.Officers arriving at the 84th Street home broke down the door after hearing screams inside and walked into a gory scene – the suspect holding a bloodied meat cleaver and a pool of blood on the floor.Tisch said Chen ignored the officers’ commands to drop the cleaver and opened fire when he lunged at them, striking him three times.Chilling images obtained by The Post showed one of the girls outside the home completely covered in blood – while Chen was seen being wheeled out on a stretcher and into a waiting ambulance....