Guilty plea in murder case

A man who’s pled guilty to murder in Bowling Green is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 24 in Wood County Common Pleas Court
Xiaosong Wang, 63, pled guilty before Judge Joel Kuhlman for the September 2023 shooting deaths of two owners of the Ninja Hibachi Sushi Steak House where he had been employed. A co-worker was also wounded.
A trial was scheduled to begin Sept. 9 but Wang, a Chinese foreign national, pled guilty to all the charges in the indictment, including two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, three counts each of attempted murder and felonious assault, and two counts of possession of criminal tools.
Paul Dobson, Wood County prosecutor, has agreed to forgo recommending life in prison without the possibility of parole and to merge all attempted murder and felonious assault charges into one count for sentencing purposes.
Also, the murder charges will merge into the aggravated murder charges.
Dobson said the sentence for aggravated murder is life in prison and the judge can order the defendant must serve 20, 25, or 30 years before having an opportunity to petition for parole. The court also has the option to order the defendant have no opportunity to petition the parole board.
The shootings occurred about midnight in a Bowling Green neighborhood when Wang was informed by the owners he was being fired after an altercation with another restaurant employee.
The owners had purchased a residence in the city that was used as living quarters by restaurant staff.
One of the owners attempted to give Wang his final check and evict him from the premises when Wang objected and tried to get to one of the owners in the house. When he was pushed back, he drew a gun and shot the owner. He then turned and shot the second owner.
A co-worker was also wounded by Wang.
Bowling Green police apprehended him that night and recovered two handguns and seven more loaded magazines.
Dobson said Wang’s status in the U.S. is unclear. His original work visa may have expired but he claimed during his plea hearing he’d applied for a green card but it hadn’t been granted at the time of the shooting.