Livingston, N.J. police put out town-wide alert due to high school seniors' "Assassin" water gun game
LIVINGSTON, N.J. -- Police have put out an alert in an Essex County community: For the next two weeks high school students will be playing a game in which they run around town with water guns. Officers don't want them to be confused for criminals.
It's an off campus game, not condoned by Livingston High School. It's called "Assassin," and a couple hundred seniors take part each year.
Police say while it may seem like an innocent game with water guns, they don't want kids to be mistaken for thieves and for something to go wrong.
On Monday, seniors carrying water guns started playing their annual game that lasts for about two weeks.
"It's basically a hide-and-seek game. Everyone has a team. You're paired with another team. You try to shoot each other. You can't get shot. Once you get shot, you're out," one student said.
The last person standing wins money.
"You win either $1,000 or $2,000 if you're the winner," a student said.
To play, students duck and hide behind cars, in people's yards, day and night. Police worry some residents could take the game the wrong way.
"We have some criminal activity that tends to happen in the early morning hours, which is when this game is played, in the early morning hours or in the late-evening hours, so we do have an increase in cars that are being stolen and criminal activity. We're always concerned about a senior being mistaken for a criminal," Livingston Police Chief Gary Marshuetz said.
And sometimes mistakes happen.
"I heard this morning someone was hiding behind someone's car. It was an old man walking to his car in the morning. He got really scared. So that could definitely be an issue," one student said.
Police are worried unsuspecting homeowners may suspect a crime and call 911, or even try to defend themselves.
"It could go wrong for our officers who don't know if it's a real gun or not," Livingston Police Capt. John Drumm said. "Some of these kids are using realistic looking water guns."
The school board sent out a notice to parents saying, "While we understand there is no malicious intent, games such as this can get out of hand and people not involved can quickly misinterpret the intentions of those participating ... Given our nation's current climate, we do not believe this is an appropriate activity for our students."
Across the U.S. there have been several recent incidents of people being shot after seemingly innocent mistakes. A 20-year-old woman was killed in upstate New York after she pulled into a stranger's driveway. A Missouri teen was shot after ringing the doorbell of the wrong house. In North Carolina, a 6-year-old girl and her father were hurt after a ball rolled into another yard.
The Livingston community wants to make sure nothing like that happens there.
"Kids shouldn't be playing it. You want to look for trouble, you're going to find trouble," a resident named Larry said.
"Perhaps that's not the best thing for a high school to do, is a gun going through people's yards. Maybe a volleyball game would be better," another person said.
The teenagers say they'll be more careful from now on.
"Do not have a black gun. We have a bright blue and white," one said.
"It's good advice. I feel like if they have to be cautious, save lives from that then, yeah," another added.
The chief of police said he knows some student will play anyway. He said if so, they should use common sense. Don't wear dark clothing and don't hide in people's yards or near people's cars.