Police Warn Teens Against 'Assassins' Game

Fremont police are telling high school seniors to stop playing “Assassins” after reports of teens carrying toy guns triggered dangerous police responses around the city. (ktvu.com) The Fremont Police Department said the game is typically played off campus by 12th-grade students using water guns, Nerf guns, or other toy weapons to “target” classmates. The department warned that even fake guns can lead to high-risk patrol contacts and traffic stops when callers think a real weapon is involved. (kron4.com) Police posted the warning on April 18 and asked parents to talk with their teens before the game leads to a confrontation with officers or a frightened resident. Fremont officers also said 911 calls tied to the game can pull police away from actual emergencies. (facebook.com) “Senior Assassin” is a long-running senior-year game in which students eliminate assigned classmates with squirt guns over several weeks, often tracking one another by phone and social media. News outlets and police departments across the country have reported a fresh wave of warnings this April as graduation season ramps up. (abcnews.com) The concern is not the game’s rules so much as the setting: teens wait outside homes, gyms, parking lots, and streets while holding objects that can look real from a distance. Fremont police said that mix can quickly turn a prank into a weapons call. (patch.com) Police in other states have pointed to recent cases where the game ended in arrests and criminal charges. In Portage, Indiana, an 18-year-old senior was charged after 911 callers reported a person with what appeared to be a handgun outside a Planet Fitness on April 10. (abc7chicago.com) Portage police said 10 on-duty officers, two off-duty officers, and a Porter County sheriff’s deputy responded because they believed they might be facing an active-shooter emergency. The object in the teen’s car turned out to be a water gun, but the case became a national example cited in broader warnings about the game. (abcnews.com) Fremont police said teens can also face consequences beyond a police stop, including trespassing, reckless driving, or bringing imitation weapons onto school grounds. The department’s message to families was blunt: a game meant for fun can look like an armed encounter to everyone else. (hoodline.com)