RENTON, Washington — Renton police released video to KIRO 7 on Wednesday of an attack on a Kent teenager who was trying to sell some basketball shoes to prospective buyers he contacted online.
The teen, who has asked we only identify him as “R.J.,” said he’d arranged to meet a man in the Renton Community Center parking lot to sell him three pairs of high-end basketball shoes worth hundreds of dollars. Instead, two men showed up, and two women were with them.
The video showed R.J. waiting in his car. A dark green Honda pulled into the parking lot and two men approached.
R.J. said he’d made transactions like that dozens of times and makes money by selling the shoes.
“You see the money in their hand, you show ‘em the shoes, you get the money, they get the shoes; but this time, they were talking a lot and seemed like they were stalling,” he said.
He said he thought their stalling tactics were to wait for any witnesses to leave the lot.
Suddenly, the video showed, one of the men sent R.J. to the ground, crumpled and bleeding.
“They just hit me in the face when I’m not even looking,” he said.
The two men took the shoes and ran off, along with the two women.
R.J. was unconscious on the ground for several minutes, bleeding from his face and head.
“Before I knew it, I wake up and there’s blood all over my clothes,” he said.
Renton police are studying the video to get the license plate of the suspect’s car. As of Wednesday, the attackers remained at large.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Renton police.
KIRO
