'Senior assassin' game ended by Kingston police after finding water gun that looks like real pistol
KINGSTON - The annual "senior assassin" water gun game played by high school students every spring has drawn a warning from Kingston Police after a close call in town.
Officers said they got a 911 call Monday afternoon about "someone walking through the parking lot of a local business with a gun in their hand." The lot is near Silver Lake Regional High School and the call came near the end of the school day.
Police sent multiple cruisers and when they got there they found it was just a high school student with a squirt gun who was part of a group of teens playing "senior assassin." The game involves students, usually high school seniors, "assassinating" each other with water guns to eliminate them from the game.
"It's just like a fun thing for the seniors to do," said Mikey Generazo, a Silver Lake Regional High School student who's in the throes of the senior assassin game, a pre-graduation tradition at schools across the state.
Students explained how it works. "You just like get assigned to a target and you have to get them by the end of the week," said Matt Wolff.
"And then if you get them, they're out," said D.J. Gilmore. "So each person put ten dollars in, and then the winner gets all the money," he said.
Kingston Police said the problem here was the water gun looked like a real Glock firearm. They posted photos of both on Facebook to show the striking similarities.
"Luckily, KPD officers were quickly able to ascertain that this is what was occurring and that it was NOT a real threat. The involved juveniles were counseled on the severity of the incident and sent on their way," police said in a statement.
"Silver Lake Regional School District prohibits this game on campus and strongly discourages students from participating in these types of games off campus," superintendent Jill Proulx told WBZ-TV in an email Tuesday. "We do not want our students to engage in any potentially dangerous behaviors."
Police departments want students to stop playing the game because it could lead to a tragedy.
"First, placing someone in fear of being assaulted by a possible firearm (even if it turns out to be fake) is a felony - we don't want that on a kid's permanent record. Second, countless tragedies have occurred where someone with a realistic looking (but fake) weapon presents it and a police officer or citizen shoots them in defense," Kingston Police said.
However, students say it's innocent fun, that can be kept safe as long as no one uses a gun that looks like a real one.
"I think everybody should be using a safe gun, probably Nerf or something with an orange tip on the end so nobody gets hurt," said senior Ben Cronin. "We don't need anybody getting hurt right now."
