Teen Stabbed Near Prospect Park Zoo, In Serious Condition, Police Say

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — A teenager was in critical condition after he was stabbed near the Prospect Park Zoo on Monday night, an NYPD spokesman told Patch. (For the latest updates on this story, click here to subscribe to Patch's daily newsletter and free, real-time news alerts for your Brooklyn neighborhood.)

The 18-year-old male was hanging out with five of his friends near 450 Flatbush Ave., where the zoo is located, around 9:45 p.m., police said. (The zoo closes at 4:30 p.m. every evening.)

Two other males walked by, "words were exchanged" between the two groups and a confrontation ensued, police said. That confrontation involved the 18-year-old male getting stabbed by one of the two males who walked by, police said.

EMS responded to the scene and took the teenager to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in serious but stable condition, police said. The men fled into the park, police said, and no arrests were made. The investigation is ongoing, police said.

While the NYPD spokesman couldn't definitively say the two events were related, people in surrounding neighborhoods reported seeing an NYPD helicopter circling the park that night.