The Senior Assassin Game Played By High School Teens Can Lead To a World of Trouble With the Police

With Memorial Day weekend finally upon us, many kids out there will find a way to kick back and relax with the added extra day off. But one thing they should probably hold off against is partaking in a game called “Senior Assassin.”

Fox News recently discussed the seriousness of this game, which starts as an innocent water fight but could become something much worse.

The game essentially “involves stalking and eliminating one another in water gun fights on their school campuses. Large groups of students often play the game on school and private property, attempting to avoid being sprayed with water by their opponents. The last dry player is declared the winner.”

It sounds innocent enough, and I’m sure a few of you are going, “What’s the problem with water guns?” It’s not so much about the innocent toys, but the context in which they’re being used.

See, they’re utilized with “assassin” rules. That means these kids are holding them like actual firearms and “stalking” their prey, or worse yet ambushing someone. As a result, it’s much more high stakes than it needs to be.

And the police are aware of that.

“Every year, police departments receive 911 calls from concerned community members reporting suspicious behavior – only to discover it is related to (Senior Assassin),” the Lower Makefield Police Department in Pennsylvania recently noted. “Additionally, toy guns, water guns, and replica weapons can easily be mistaken for real firearms, causing fear, panic and potentially dangerous misunderstandings.”

Now this isn’t some silly call to remove water guns from the market. Most of them are made from transparent materials and it’s easy enough to see they aren’t firearms. Some, however, are, like these questionable looking ones from COOLFOX. Their build simply looks like the real deal – especially at night, when police aren’t able to distinguish the neon colors.

“But no one can really get hurt from this, can they?” Surprise, they can. Earlier this year, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement officer shot a Bishop Kenny high school student who was partaking in the game, after mistaking his water gun for the real deal.

Duval and Nassau State Attorney Melissa Nelson noted, “Today we ask for your help in shutting the game down. I’m the mother of three; I have two current high schoolers and a college freshman who played this game last year. Many of us in this room have teens who have played. But it’s incumbent on all of us to make sure yesterday’s incident does not repeat himself.”

By the way, the teen is okay, as he was only shot in the arm. But it could have been much, much worse.

The thing is, police have to work on split-second instinct in situations they’re unaware of. If someone approaches them with something that resembles a firearm, they have to act defensively. Even if it’s a water gun.

Plus there’s the nature of the behavior of the teens themselves when they take part in this game. We’re in an era where active shooter events can break out at any time, without warning. So, yeah, if we see a kid running around a campus, acting suspiciously and looking like he’s holding a firearm, you can bet people are going to report it for safety’s sake.

The bottom line is this – just don’t play the game. Period. You may think it’s exciting and all, but it poses a danger to not only others on campus, but also the police that are responding to the call. Maybe stick with cooling off another way. Water balloons? The hose itself? Just some ideas out there.

Because the last thing you need is to pretend you’re a high-end assassin and then find yourself facing down actual fire because of a mistake.

With that, happy Memorial Day weekend and play it safe out there!