A 15-year-old boy was slashed in the leg late Wednesday night while trying to sell an item to someone he'd arranged to meet on Kings Highway in Brooklyn. The meetup, which took place just before 10 p.m., turned violent, and the teen was cut in his right leg, per police. EMS rushed him to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
According to News12 Brooklyn, the boy had sought to sell an item when the encounter on Kings Highway went awry. Investigators are searching for multiple people of interest in connection with the attack, per investigators. Authorities have urged anyone with additional information to call 1-800-577-TIPS.
A Familiar Corridor for Danger
The outlet's report doesn't specify what the teen was trying to sell, and it's not clear whether the victim and the suspects knew one another before agreeing to meet. This isn't the first time a young seller has been targeted along the same Kings Highway corridor. In March, another 15-year-old boy was shot in the neck near Kings Highway and Bay Parkway after an arranged social media clothing sale turned into an armed robbery, according to the Shore News Network. In that case, suspects reportedly snatched the victim's jacket and opened fire when he tried to get it back.
The 61st Precinct, which covers Kings Highway and the surrounding South Brooklyn neighborhoods, recorded 6,141 major crimes, 2,709 arrests, and five shooting incidents in 2025, according to Hoodline's review of command data — a snapshot suggesting shootings remain relatively rare in the area even as property crime volumes run higher.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Sale Ambushes
Wednesday's slashing fits into a broader and well-documented pattern across New York City in which online marketplace transactions get hijacked by groups of perpetrators looking to rob the seller. Just weeks earlier, a 15-year-old boy was pistol-whipped and robbed near East 15th Street and Avenue J in nearby Midwood, with bodycam footage from that arrest showing officers recovering a firearm from a suspect's backpack, Hoodline previously reported in its piece on the Midwood robbery bodycam footage.
Other South Brooklyn cases are also discussed in the broader context of online transactions. And it isn't confined to Brooklyn — the article also discusses an online clothing sale in the Bronx.
NYPD Alert and Safer Meeting Options
To help residents conduct online transactions, the department operates designated 24/7 “E-Commerce Exchange Zones” outside police precincts across all five boroughs, offering video-surveilled, well-lit areas, according to the Brooklyn Reporter.
Maimonides Medical Center, where the teen was taken, provided treatment after the incident.
Potential Charges If Suspects Are Caught
Should investigators identify and apprehend the person or people responsible, prosecutors would determine the appropriate charges.
Investigators were searching for people of interest. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS.
