A Brooklyn man was indicted on first-degree assault charges for allegedly attacking a 21-year-old pre-med student outside her home in Elmont in March 2021, causing severe burn injuries to her face and body.
According to the indictment, on March 17, 2021, at approximately 8:30 p.m., the victim and her mother were returning to their home in Elmont after the victim had finished working a shift at a local pharmacy in Baldwin. The victim’s mother went into the family home while the victim was collecting belongings from the back of their vehicle. As she walked up to the front door, Campbell, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, mask and gloves, allegedly approached the victim with a cup of liquid and threw it at her. The liquid, later determined to be 70% sulfuric acid, covered the victim’s face and chest, entered her throat, and splashed in her eye. The victim collapsed on her front lawn in excruciating pain and Campbell allegedly fled. The victim was rushed into intensive care at Nassau University Medical Center, where she was treated for second- and third-degree burns to her face, arms, wrists, shoulders, right eye and esophagus.
In the years since the attack, the victim has suffered enduring pain, infections, multiple surgeries and skin grafts and undergoes regular esophageal dilation to allow her to breathe and eat normally. Since the attack, the Nassau County Police Department and NCDA have conducted an extensive investigation, involving warrants, subpoenas, and interviews. One key piece of evidence was video surveillance of a red Nissan Altima parked outside of the victim’s home and later fleeing the scene, which was recovered after the attack, but did not show a license plate and a registered owner was unable to be located initially.
In late 2025, NCDA and NCPD received information provided by members of the community with knowledge of the attack and cooperation from technology companies that led investigators to Campbell. The defendant allegedly regularly drove a 2015 red Nissan Altima that was registered under a family member’s name based on multiple moving violations, tickets, and accidents in which he provided his driver’s license. Other evidence obtained from License Plate Reader images from the days before and after the attack linked the red Nissan Altima used in the attack to the one driven by the defendant.
Campbell, who rapped under the name “YungBasedPrince,” also published a YouTube music video in 2023 called “Obsidian,” in which he raps the lyrics, “on the street in the night like a hitman assassin/try to run up and have your face burn in acid.” Google searches from the client’s Google account obtained through a warrant also revealed searches, in the minutes and days after the attack, for phrases including “sulfuric acid remover,” “sulfuric acid on car seat,” “can you recover from sulfuric acid burn,” and “acid attack Franklin Square Long Island.”
Nassau County detectives arrested Campbell, 29, on February 9, 2026.
The next day, Campbell was arraigned before Judge Joy Watson on grand jury indictment charges of two counts of Assault in the First Degree (a Class B violent felony); Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree (a Class A misdemeanor); and Unlawfully Possessing Noxious Materials (a Class B misdemeanor). Campbell pleaded not guilty and was remanded. He is due back in court on February 18, 2026. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
“Through tremendous investigative work, after nearly five years, today we arraigned 29-year-old Terrell Campbell for allegedly conducting a heinous sulfuric acid attack on a young woman outside of her home in Elmont,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “The past five years have not been easy on this young woman. She survived the attack, but that was just the beginning of a long, painful journey of recovery filled with unanswered questions. Today, we were finally able to provide her with some answers.”
Donnelly continued, “After his alleged attack, this heartless defendant cared so little about the traumatic, life-altering injuries he caused, that he brazenly used the attack as material to further his rap career, publishing a video with lyrics that neatly fit the narrative of the crime. Terrell Campbell thought he was home free, but he could not have been more wrong. I thank the Nassau County Police Department for their incredible efforts to bring justice to this brave young woman and for their partnership as we prosecute this case.”
“Under the leadership of County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the victim is finally receiving the justice she deserves after a horrific assault that changed her life forever,” said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder. “Our detectives and the district attorney’s office never stopped working to bring the individual responsible for this heinous act to justice.”