NC sheriff warns parents about danger of teens playing ‘assassins' squirt gun game
Teens wear dark clothes and masks to 'ambush' an unsuspecting classmate, Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey said on social media Thursday. The water guns look real, he said.
Deputies responded to multiple calls recently about students dressed in black and 'acting suspiciously' around homes and businesses in the Weddington, Waxhaw and Wesley Chapel areas, he said.
The game is a national trend.
In the most alarming incident, deputies were called to a home on Crane Road near Waxhaw on Wednesday night, Cathey said. Officers found two high school students in all-black hiding outside the home, he said.
The teens were set to 'ambush' and spray water on a classmate when she returned home and left her car, the sheriff said.
'Thankfully, deputies arrived first and were able to intervene before the situation escalated,' Cathey said.
Cathey urged parents to stress with their teens 'the serious risks of this game.'
Carrying water guns that look like real guns 'can lead to confusion, fear and dangerous situations,' Cathey said.
Sneaking around homes at night can get someone shot — for real, he said. That's especially true 'where many homeowners take their security very seriously and are often armed with real weapons,' Cathey said.
The game has caused injuries and even a death in other states.
On Feb. 12, an off-duty Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent shot a teen in his neighborhood who was playing the game in Yulee, about 25 miles north of Jacksonville, McClatchy News reported. The teen was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
In May 2024, the family of a 16-year-old in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, said their son died when he was startled by others aiming guns at him during the game, triggering a heart condition, Penn Live reported.
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