Juvenile arrested after acid attack injures six women in Jersey City

A juvenile was taken into custody after six women were injured in a suspected acid attack near 105 Wilkinson Ave. in Jersey City’s Greenville neighborhood, an incident police said may have grown out of an earlier dispute.

The attack happened Monday evening, June 15, 2026, around 7:30 to 7:40 p.m. near Ocean Avenue. Jersey City public safety officials said the substance was believed to be sulfuric acid, and the victims included three teenagers.

Officials first reported five injured people before later confirming a sixth victim. All six women were taken to the hospital, and one 21-year-old woman was transferred to a burn unit with second-degree burns to her face and scalp. Other victims were reported with skin burns and peeling, but authorities said their injuries were stable and not life-threatening.

Police said the incident appeared targeted and may have stemmed from a dispute involving a large group of people earlier in the day. Investigators were also looking into whether more than one person was involved, even as the arrest of a juvenile marked the first public custody move in the case. Jersey City police identified the charges as aggravated assault and other offenses.

The attack stunned residents in the block around Wilkinson Avenue and Ocean Avenue. CBS New York reported that neighbors were shaken by the violence, and one witness summed up the fear on the street with a short plea: “We just need God.”

The case drew attention because acid attacks remain rare in the New York and New Jersey region, where injuries from corrosive assaults have typically been isolated and heavily prosecuted. The violence also recalled the 2021 Long Island acid attack against Hofstra student Nafiah Ikram, a case prosecutors later described as one of the most brutal in Long Island history.