Exclusive: Teen speaks out after brutal attack and stabbing by gang members in Queens

JACKSON HEIGHTS, Queens (WABC) -- A teenager was stabbed in the back at a basketball court in Queens.

He spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News about how he was approached by a group of young men who asked him if he was in a gang.

He said "no" and they attacked.

"Thank God I'm still alive," the victim said.

With his attackers still free, we won't show you this 18-year-old's face, and we won't tell you his name, but you need to know his story.

He was the victim of a vicious and senseless attack as he played basketball in a Jackson Heights park.

"And they came out of nowhere they try to just catch someone you know? They didn't care who," the victim said.

It happened Monday at dusk as the teen and his friends were playing at Travers Park.

When what cops describe as a group of seven to nine known gang members filed in the only exit. They demanded to know if these kids were in a rival gang and they said "no".

"They just like, 'We're not letting you go because we feel like you are,'" said, the victim's friend. "Next thing you know they blocked the entrance to the park."

"I've never even heard of them or seen them in my life," said another friend of the victim.

"They just went off for no reason," said the victim's friend

"I got rocked with a chain in my mouth and then I got chased with a belt and a knife," the victim said. "Somebody said, 'Go get him'. And I got my way to escape and I was out," he said.

"There were 13-year-old kids playing basketball with us. And I just let them, let them leave, but when they all left I tried to leave, but it was too late. They were all around me," the victim said.

Like a pack of wolves, they pounced, hitting him with a chain, and slashing his forehead with a broken Snapple bottle.

When he saw an opening, he ran away.

"He had a chance to get out and they were all behind him," he said.

"I'm running, running, and I felt somebody behind me, he said, 'I got you'. He stabbed me in the back, I'm like 'ahh,'" the victim said. "End of the day, no one else got hurt."