Brooklyn Park Police Urge Caution Over ‘Senior Assassin’ Game
Brooklyn Park police are urging caution over a game called ‘senior assassin.’ It’s similar to tag, only kids use water guns instead.
“It’s played by usually high school-age kids where they get a large group together,” said Brooklyn Park Police Inspector Elliot Faust. “Usually organized on social media, and the goal is to go out and essentially ‘tag’ the next person. ‘Tag, you’re it,’ if you will. And they do that by shooting them with these water balls.”
On the surface, it sounds like harmless fun, but in a Brooklyn Park neighborhood on the morning of April 16, a game of senior assassin took an unexpected turn.
“A homeowner called [911] and said that they saw somebody moving through the yard,” Faust said. “The person was wearing camouflage and had a long gun. And so obviously, very alarming, very concerning for somebody to have no idea what that’s about.”
The homeowner’s 911 call drew several officers to the neighborhood. They launched a drone to search the area and quickly found the teenagers involved.
While ultimately nothing happened — other than the kids getting a quick lesson in why cutting through a yard with something looking like a long gun is generally not a good idea — police say things could have had dire consequences.
In this blurry photo taken from a Brooklyn Park Police squad car, officers are speaking to the teens playing the senior assassin game in the 10500-block of Noble Circle North.
‘Not trying to be the fun police’
“When it’s dark out and you’re not expecting things, you see the shape [of the water gun], very easy to confuse this with an actual firearm, and I think that’s where the real danger in this comes in,” Faust said.
Faust says the game originated as Nerf wars, where kids would chase each other in cars while shooting Nerf guns.
In 2016, students from Armstrong High School engaged in a Nerf gun battle crashed into a pole in New Hope. Two people ended up going to the hospital.
“We haven’t had a large problem with that, that’s come to my attention this year,” Faust said. “So we’re thankful for that. But you start adding vehicles and people may be driving recklessly, we have seen that. That’s really a recipe for a tragedy to happen as well.”
As we approach graduation, Faust says he hopes students make smarter decisions.
“We’re not trying to be the fun police here, but we’re trying to avoid a tragedy from happening,” said Faust.
Related: New Truck to Help Brooklyn Park Police Monitor Distracted Driving
