Beware! Police Caution of New TikTok Challenge Sweeping Idaho

We shared a story a while back about a group of children targeting innocent bystanders with “splatter guns.” A splatter gun is similar to an airsoft gun but uses small gel balls of water as ammo… while typically not lethal, they can still inflict serious harm.

Cassia County Sheriff’s Office shared a post to Facebook warning parents of a viral TikTok challenge that is encouraging kids to target unsuspecting bystanders who are minding their business.

“Multiple victims called and reported that they had been shot by one of these types of guns,” Staff Sgt. Jason Lynch said in the Facebook post, “The victims stated they were shot while outside in their yard, walking home from school and out for a walk/jog.”

This is insane to me… where did this all begin? How can a teenager or child find pleasure in inflicting harm or even fear on innocent bystanders? The horrifying part is there are people who are trying to “modify” their water beads so they can inflict more harm.

“While these projectiles/Orbeez are soft to the touch, they can lead to injury and even break the skin when shot from a gun,” SSgt. Lynch says, “Some videos have shown teens freezing the water gel beads to increase the impact.”

The post goes on to share how victims of this “challenge” have been seriously injured with some even being disfigured.

What are the Consequences?

According to SSgt. Lynch, “shooting an unwilling person in Idaho is considered Battery, a misdemeanor in the State of Idaho” and “shooting an unwilling person could also result in an Aggravated Battery charge, which is a felony in Idaho.”

These crimes, he says, could carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

This is another prime example of how important it is to monitor what our children are doing on the internet, their phones, etc. These senseless “challenges” can not only seriously injure someone, but can also ruin the life of the perpetrator, that of which is predominantly children. The full post can be seen below:

Here is a splatter gun "pain test" to get an idea of what these things can do: