19-Year-Old Shot While Selling His PS5
It's not often that selling a gaming console leads to violence, but one young Houston man recently discovered high-value sales can be dangerous endeavors–especially when it comes to hard-to-find consoles. Gamers initially thought that the small stock of PlayStation 5s released back in 2020 would be a temporary shortage, but the worst news about the PS5 dropped months later, indicating that the new console would be in short supply for the foreseeable future. In the holiday season of 2021, finding a PS5 became even harder as Sony decided to reduce production due to supply chain issues. Needless to say, the console is in high demand, and some lucky owners are deciding to spin their initial good fortune for a profit, selling their PS5s for a significantly higher price. Selling for extra cash isn't a bad plan, but any independent sale runs the risk of going wrong. Unfortunately, that's what happened for one young man that decided to sell his PS5.
In Harris County, Texas, a 19-year-old man listed his PS5 for sale online and quickly found a potential buyer. The man agreed to meet up with the buyer on a Sunday afternoon, according to ABC13, but things quickly went wrong after the buyer and seller made contact.
A violent encounter over a PS5
It turns out that the buyer had a different sort of plan for how to get the PS5, and they quickly pulled out a gun and shot the seller, injuring his side. ABC13 reported that the buyer got away, but not with the PS5 in hand.
Police soon arrived on the scene in response to the attempted robbery, finding the young man injured. The crew got him medical care, and stated that he's currently in stable condition at the local hospital. While his injuries are not life-threatening, it was certainly a harrowing experience. Police haven't released much specific information about the case, though they did state that the buyer was male. Authorities did not provide a physical description of either the victim or the shooter, and it's unclear if more details will be forthcoming.
Steve Campion of ABC13 tweeted a photo from the scene of the crime, which showed a muddied and beaten PS5 lying loose on the ground. Many commenters were quick to accuse the 19-year-old of being a scalper, but others argued that there is no excuse for this kind of violence.
Sadly, this isn't the first incident of someone being injured — or even killed — over a console sale. A similar situation happened in Aurora, Colorado earlier in 2021, prompting discussions of safe exchange zones, or areas set up near (or in) police stations to make gun owners think twice about firing a shot on a sheller. Thankfully, the Houston teen lived to through the horrifying ordeal.