Teh One Who Knocks
05-25-2016, 10:46 AM
By Dan Taekema, Staff Reporter - The Toronto Star
http://i.imgur.com/Wr6YzJk.jpg
A potentially dangerous trend where students pretend to “assassinate” each other has migrated to the GTA from the United States.
It’s called the “assassin game” and involves teenagers putting money in a pot and pulling out the name of a random “target” they need to eliminate by shooting with a dart or spraying with a water gun. The last surviving player wins the cash.
The game is especially popular with high school seniors in the States — including at Chelmsford High School in Massachusetts where the game had been an annual tradition — until last week when, according to local media, a student chasing a target in a car crashed into the other student’s vehicle.
In the same week, teenagers in the town had been found breaking into a house and a car to ambush their targets, which prompted local police and the school’s principal to put an end to the game.
Students in the U.S. chronicle their “kills” on social media throughTwitter handles and Facebook pages. The games are organized by students and often include rules such as no playing on school property or during prom.
While playing assassin has been popular with students south of the border for years, police in Oakville are just starting to encounter the game.
Halton Regional Police said they have received many calls in the past month about young people behaving suspiciously and wielding suspected firearms.
“Further investigation has revealed that the alleged firearms were in fact water guns used by local youths engaged 'the assassins game,'” read a release the force put out on Friday.
Halton police warned that several of the replica guns closely resembled a real weapon and resulted in “public distress and elevated police response.”
Sgt. Chantal Corner said the force isn’t against kids having fun, but pointed to an incident last month where students took the game too far as an example of the dangerous situations it can create.
According to Corner, police in Oakville received a call about people wearing black masks driving through a residential neighbourhood and waving what appeared to be a firearm through the sunroof of an SUV.
Police blocked off both ends of the street, cornering a group of teenage girls who explained that it was all part of the game.
“Running around in a back yard with one of those fluorescent Nerf guns is one thing, but it’s something else to drive around wearing a balaclava with a black gun sticking out of a car,” said Corner. “In a lot of cases there are replica guns made to look very real and … until we can prove that it’s not a real weapon, it has to be treated as one,” she said.
Replica guns have played a deadly role in police shootings, including the death of Ian Pryce, who was shot by police while wielding a pellet gun. Numerous inquests after shooting deaths by police have called for look-alike guns to be more heavily regulated.
Toronto police echoed their Halton counterparts, issuing a warning for students to stay away from the game.
“We always advise the public not to walk around with replica handguns or anything that looks like some sort of weapon,” said a TPS spokesperson.
http://i.imgur.com/Wr6YzJk.jpg
A potentially dangerous trend where students pretend to “assassinate” each other has migrated to the GTA from the United States.
It’s called the “assassin game” and involves teenagers putting money in a pot and pulling out the name of a random “target” they need to eliminate by shooting with a dart or spraying with a water gun. The last surviving player wins the cash.
The game is especially popular with high school seniors in the States — including at Chelmsford High School in Massachusetts where the game had been an annual tradition — until last week when, according to local media, a student chasing a target in a car crashed into the other student’s vehicle.
In the same week, teenagers in the town had been found breaking into a house and a car to ambush their targets, which prompted local police and the school’s principal to put an end to the game.
Students in the U.S. chronicle their “kills” on social media throughTwitter handles and Facebook pages. The games are organized by students and often include rules such as no playing on school property or during prom.
While playing assassin has been popular with students south of the border for years, police in Oakville are just starting to encounter the game.
Halton Regional Police said they have received many calls in the past month about young people behaving suspiciously and wielding suspected firearms.
“Further investigation has revealed that the alleged firearms were in fact water guns used by local youths engaged 'the assassins game,'” read a release the force put out on Friday.
Halton police warned that several of the replica guns closely resembled a real weapon and resulted in “public distress and elevated police response.”
Sgt. Chantal Corner said the force isn’t against kids having fun, but pointed to an incident last month where students took the game too far as an example of the dangerous situations it can create.
According to Corner, police in Oakville received a call about people wearing black masks driving through a residential neighbourhood and waving what appeared to be a firearm through the sunroof of an SUV.
Police blocked off both ends of the street, cornering a group of teenage girls who explained that it was all part of the game.
“Running around in a back yard with one of those fluorescent Nerf guns is one thing, but it’s something else to drive around wearing a balaclava with a black gun sticking out of a car,” said Corner. “In a lot of cases there are replica guns made to look very real and … until we can prove that it’s not a real weapon, it has to be treated as one,” she said.
Replica guns have played a deadly role in police shootings, including the death of Ian Pryce, who was shot by police while wielding a pellet gun. Numerous inquests after shooting deaths by police have called for look-alike guns to be more heavily regulated.
Toronto police echoed their Halton counterparts, issuing a warning for students to stay away from the game.
“We always advise the public not to walk around with replica handguns or anything that looks like some sort of weapon,” said a TPS spokesperson.