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Police called in Groton over ‘realistic’ squirt gun during ‘Senior Assassin’ game
“Thankfully, this incident did not have a tragic ending due to officers training and experience and the quick realization that the gun was not real.”
Local police departments in Massachusetts issued a warning to teens Tuesday after a “realistic” squirt gun used in a game of “Senior Assassin” prompted an emergency response in Groton.
Groton police said their officers along with the Westford Police Department responded around 5:30 p.m. Monday to a report of a person armed with a gun, wearing a ski mask, and dressed all in black running through one of the town’s neighborhood. The department said multiple 9-1-1 calls were made about the person.
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Police said the investigation determined the person was a high school senior participating in a large-scale water gun fight called “Senior Assassin,” during which graduating students attempt to eliminate one another by sneaking up on their classmates and squirting them with a squirt gun.
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“In this incident, the squirt gun was realistic looking from a distance and had been mistaken for a real gun by the multiple residents who called 9-1-1 in alarm,” police said. “Thankfully, this incident did not have a tragic ending due to officers training and experience and the quick realization that the gun was not real.”
The game, police said, is not sanctioned by the school or the police department. Groton police urged guardians of students to speak with their teenagers about “the dangers of this game, and the real life/dangerous/life threatening consequences of running around a neighborhood with what looks like an actual firearm.”
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“If there are other instances of teens causing disruption while playing this game, they will have legal consequences for disturbing the peace, as well as any other laws that were broken during the incident,” Groton police said.
Wrentham police issued a similar warning Monday night to students at King Phillip Regional High School, urging students to use only brightly colored squirt guns, avoid trespassing on private property, and to not follow classmates in cars.
“Playing this game at night, increases the chance someone will mistake you for a bad guy,” Wrentham police said. “If you jump out of your hiding place and scare someone, they may hurt you before they figure out it’s a prank. This means do not hide behind or under cars in the driveway; behind the shrubbery etc. YES, students have actually hid UNDER cars. So don’t.”
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