Teenager stabbed on Ocean City boardwalk during chaotic Memorial Day weekend night

As the curtain rose on Jersey Shore's official summer season this weekend, a familiar problem reared its ugly head: unruly teenagers crowding the boardwalk at night.

In Ocean City, however, the problem turned violent Saturday night when a 15-year-old boy was stabbed by an unknown suspect around 9:12 p.m., not far from a popular entertainment pier. Police said the teen was transported to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City for non-life-threatening injuries.

The Cape May County city, which bills itself as “America's Greatest Family Resort,” has taken steps to keep teenagers and young adults from crowding the beaches and boardwalk at night, including a curfew at 8 p.m. on the beach and a ban on backpacks on the promenade at 8 p.m. , and a global curfew at 11 p.m. on the boards in general.

A social media post by Philadelphia-based photographer Hugh E. Dillon showed hundreds of teenagers running off the boardwalk Saturday night after reports of fights, stabbings and “a smoke bomb “.

In a statement on Saturday night's chaos, Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian had a direct message to all parents and teens:

“If you don’t want to behave, don’t come.”

Gillian said officers made “several arrests” Saturday evening and were able to “quickly restore order to the boardwalk once the teenagers involved in these incidents were removed.”

“I understand the impact this behavior has on all of our residents, guests and business owners, and I want to assure everyone that Ocean City will not tolerate it.”

It's unclear how many arrests, in total, were made Saturday night in Ocean City. Neither police nor a spokesperson could immediately be contacted Sunday afternoon. Last year, Ocean City issued more than 1,000 curbside warnings in a single weekend.

Meanwhile, on the coast in Seaside Heights in Ocean County, unfounded reports of gunfire also caused hundreds of teenagers to leave the boardwalk. The city, famous for hosting MTV's “Jersey Shore,” has instituted a 10 p.m. curfew for teens under 18.

Most cities along the Jersey Shore have adopted restrictions for teens in recent years, including a midnight curfew in Wildwood and a 10 p.m. curfew in adjacent North Wildwood.

“We are concerned about large groups of young people gathering at night, but that has started to slow down in recent years,” North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello recently told the Inquirer. “It seems like from 2020 to 2022 it really exploded and then it kind of tapered off.”

Anyone with information about Saturday evening's incident in Ocean City is encouraged to contact the detective bureau at (609) 525-9129.