If you are around teens these days, in particular upcoming 2024 graduates, you likely have heard of something called “Senior Assassin.”
It’s a tournament-style game that’s trending nationwide – quite likely in a high school near you – where students pool their money, around five bucks per participant, and try to eliminate members of the other team by catching players off guard, then squirting them with water guns.
Sounds harmless, right? After all, the game is not against the law or local ordinances.
That’s not how a homeowner on the East Side of Aurora sees it after finding himself Monday morning confronting a young man lurking around a house across the street who was holding what he said looked to be an AR-15 rifle.
Luckily, when the homeowner, who asked that his name not be used, went outside with his dogs and called 911, the person immediately jumped in his car and drove off, but not before a security camera captured the license plate.
The homeowner showed me those photos. And yes, he was right to be alarmed. The gun looked real – as did the threat to whoever lived in that house.
It turns out the whole thing was indeed a false alarm, or as an Aurora Police Department lieutenant told me, a poor choice made by playing a game. That’s what police discovered after the license plate led them to a parking lot at East Aurora High School, where a student who officials described as a “good kid … good student … never before in trouble,” got a real tongue-lashing from the cops.
With good reason.
The scenario could have turned out a lot differently, a warning a growing number of law enforcement agencies and schools are putting out to the public, and one echoed by the homeowner who said he has a concealed carry license and admits that had the young man started shooting, “I may have shot back, not knowing it’s fake.”
The man was horrified at the thought of what could have happened. And he also feels badly for Aurora police, who used “a lot of manpower” for the incident, “that takes away from other parts of the city” when a response is truly needed.
This scenario on Aurora’s East Side is similar to one reported on the news a couple weeks ago in Gurnee where a team of “assassins” wearing ski masks and brandishing real-looking water guns entered a restaurant where a concealed carrier patron mistook the game as a threat, although no one was hurt.
There are rules designed to make this spring activity a safe and positive experience, which is why so many parents see it as nothing but fun and games. For example, only colorful, fake-looking water guns are supposed to be used. And there are certain places – at work, inside the home and when cars are in motion, for example – where so-called “assassinations” are off limits.
But as we all know, kids are notorious for breaking rules, a fact that almost turned tragic a few weeks ago in Itasca when, according to news reports, a student was being chased by her “assassins” while driving a car, hit a slippery patch and rolled the vehicle.
Thankfully, she was not critically injured, but went on TV to add her warnings to those of officials.
The game, which has been around for at least five years nationally, is now being played all over the Fox Valley, including St. Charles, where several 911 calls prompted police to post an online photo of water guns being used which look like real handguns.
Authorities are asking teens to use common sense and recognize how players’ actions could be perceived by members of the community. In a strongly-worded email sent out Wednesday afternoon to West Aurora School District 129 parents and high school seniors, officials urge students to avoid the game because of the “serious risks associated with it.”
The email cited some of the recent incidents in the suburbs, noting that “participants have found themselves in dangerous situations when others mistook their actions as genuine threats to the community.”
The message went on to say that “as educators and law enforcement officials, we must prioritize the safety and well-being of our students … these activities can result in criminal charges and are not worth the risk,” and was signed by West Aurora School District Superintendent Jeff Craig, Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain and police chiefs Keith Cross of Aurora, Joe DeLeo of North Aurora and Phil Smith of Montgomery.
While the East Aurora High School student is not facing charges, he was disciplined by the school for being tardy. Turns out Principal Jennifer Mitchell had sent out a letter to families early in the week detailing the safety concerns over this game and encouraged parents to talk to their children about the dangers.
Unfortunately, the email, sent on Monday, likely did not reach this young man’s home before he found himself facing a resident that same morning who thought he was watching someone about to commit murder.
Officials rightly note that, considering the number of shootings with deadly weapons taking place across our country, and in particular, in our schools, even the name of this game seems tone deaf, never mind some players using water guns that look like the real deal as they go hunting opponents.
“By the time you are a senior, you should know better,” said Kevin Jenkins, safety and security manager for East Aurora School District 131. “They are old enough to understand the times we are living in and make better decisions.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
