Illinois police fear people will mistake students’ water gun game for ‘genuine threat’

Multiple police departments across Illinois are warning residents about the potential risks of a game called “senior assassins” in which high school students don ski masks and target each other with water guns that look like firearms.

In a Facebook post, the Gurnee police department said that on Tuesday a group of high school students from a neighboring community entered a local restaurant wearing ski masks and displayed water guns resembling firearms.

Despite the students attempting to target other students at the restaurant and spray them with water, an adult who was a concealed carry holder “mistook the situation for a genuine threat and the situation could have escalated quickly”, the police department said.

“The gravity of the situation cannot be emphasized enough; it had the potential to lead to serious consequences,” it warned, adding that incidents like these may warrant disorderly conduct charges.

Describing the game, Arlington Heights police department said that it was an “annual springtime tradition for students, especially seniors” and involves attempts to “forego match elimination by squirting other players using a water gun with a goal of being the last person remaining in the game”.

The police department added that game rules specify that the game cannot take place during school hours or on school property. Instead, players attempt to locate their opponents in other locations including homes, local parks and other public gathering spaces within the community. Participants will often hide in “odd spots, chase targets through yards and appear suddenly in a vehicle or on foot”, it said.

The police department went on to warn: “The unintentional result of participants running throughout the community with a water gun, some often resembling a look-alike firearm, could have deadly consequences.”

“We encourage parents to talk to their children about safety concerns linked to openly carrying a squirt gun that resembles a look-alike firearm and being on private property without permission. Consider the perception [of] an uninformed resident who sees a person rapidly displaying a replica firearm in a populated common area. That action could be viewed as ‘alarming and disturbing’ which are elements of a criminal offense and/or local ordinance violation – disorderly conduct,” it continued.

Echoing the Arlington Heights police department, the city of St Charles police department issued a similar warning and posted a photo online of the fake guns (though it did not say that these were the guns students had used).

In its Facebook post on 5 April, the city of St Charles police department said that over the past week, it has responded to numerous 911 calls from residents who are “witnessing individuals dressed in hoodies or masks, sneaking around their neighbor’s homes”.

“We remind students that they need to be aware that realistic-looking fake guns like those in this picture should not be used,” the police department said, adding, “Our officers respond to each of these 911 calls without knowledge of whether this is students just having fun or an actual crime about to be committed. We strongly encourage parents to please talk with your kids about this as well.”