Samy Sedhom, 21, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder after allegedly firing a crossbow at his sister's face during a dispute over their home's temperature. The incident occurred on February 13 in Lawrence, New York, and Sedhom appeared in court on Thursday. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly described the attack as violent and calculated.
Samy Sedhom faces charges of attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon following the February 13 attack on his 28-year-old sister, a registered nurse, at their family home in Lawrence, New York. According to Donnelly, Sedhom waited for his sister to return from the gym, aimed a high-performance Barnett Whitetail Hunter Crossbow at her head, and struck her face, causing a 6-inch laceration that required emergency surgery with three layers of stitching. She reported feeling sharp pain while entering the garage code and saw Sedhom in his car across the street before calling police; she is now healing well, authorities said. Prosecutors noted Sedhom purchased hunting arrows and a GPS device to track her vehicle, and police recovered the crossbow after he allegedly tried to discard it. The box for the weapon was found in his bedroom, and body camera footage captured his confession of planning the killing since Christmas 2025, stemming from thermostat disagreements. Sedhom's attorney, Stephen Mullkoff, said his client intended only to scare her in what he previously called a prank and suffers from an undiagnosed mental health condition. Donnelly rejected this, stating the planning—ordering, delivery, and assembly of the crossbow—showed calculation, not a mental break, and that Sedhom came within inches of killing her. A grand jury indicted Sedhom, who was arraigned Thursday, ordered held without bail, and mandated a psychological evaluation for trial competency. His next court date is April 30.