Man Shot After Attempting to Privately Sell His PS5

With Christmas fast approaching, it’s not surprising to see that attempts to sell, or more accurately resell, PS5 consoles online have gotten a little more enthusiastic over the last couple of weeks. For one such man, however, the deal nearly cost him his life as following a Twitter post by ABC13, while attempting to sell his PS5, the apparent purchaser instead decided to bring a gun and shot him in a failed robbery attempt!

PS5 Seller Gets Shot in Attempted Robbery

In the report, the unnamed 19-year-old had their PS5 listed online for sale. Having been contacted by a supposed buyer, they arranged to meet in what was, generally speaking, a fairly sensible open roadside location to complete the transaction. It seems, however, that while the ‘buyer’ was interested, they had no intention of paying for it. Instead, they brought a gun and attempted to use it to steal the console from the seller.

While it’s still unclear as to exactly what happened next, it would appear that the 19-year-old was not willing to simply hand the system over. He was, therefore, subsequently shot in what we can only presume was some kind of altercation or scuffle. It should be noted though that despite shooting the current owner, the prospective ‘buyer’ still ended up fleeing the scene without the console.

It seems that they thought that the mere threat of the gun might’ve been enough on its own.

Caveat Venditor!

Despite the fact that the PS5 is now over a year old, people are still clearly very interested in getting hold of them. If not for simply wanting to play next-gen games, then for the hugely inflated value they can have on the second-hand market (just check out the eBay post above!). However, this does again highlight the potential dangers that can exist when dealing with high-value tech products such as this.

Overall, the 19-year-old man here was rather wise in choosing a public place to make the transaction. The only clear issue (other than the fact that the buyer brought a gun) was that a more public place, such as a shopping center, would’ve clearly reduced the risk of an attempted armed robbery just on the merits of a lot more people likely being in the vicinity. Rather than caveat emptor (buyer beware), caveat venditor (seller beware) seems far more appropriate here!

Fortunately though, although shot, the wound is not believed to be dangerous and he should go on to make a full recovery. Although the would-be thief is still on the run. It does seem somewhat additionally sad though that his mud-stained PS5 is now far more likely to be spending Christmas in an evidence locker than actually playing games! Well, presuming that it still works at all!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!