‘Assassin game’ sparks concern from police dealing with replica gun calls
Posted May 13, 2025 04:17:56 PM.
Last Updated May 13, 2025 04:18:01 PM.
Some youth are carrying around replica firearms in an attempt to “assassinate” each other, Guelph Police Service (GPS) explained in a press release.
According to officials, the popular game is known as “Senior Assassin,” involves high school students competing to eliminate each other by shooting them with water guns or other projectiles within a specific time period. They say the game is played at all hours of the day and not just during school hours.
Police are concerned because many of the replica firearms cause issues for members of the public and often prompt large police responses.
“A lot of the water guns that we’re seeing are especially from a distance or at night are almost impossible to tell apart from real firearms,” Scott Tracey, civilian member of GPS, told CityNews.
Officiers responding to those calls have to treat them as legitimate until proven otherwise.
“Our officers simply can’t afford to assume that the weapon is not real because if it is, then obviously it can have deadly consequences for the officers and for the community,” Tracey said. “So they have to always respond to weapons calls, assuming that the weapon is real.”
It also takes police away from real calls.
An example of this happened on May 1, when a high school was briefly put in a lockdown and a teen was arrested at gunpoint after police were called for a person with a weapon outside the school. In the end, three boys were cautioned for possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and in lieu of charges will complete an educational program through the John Howard Society.
Tracey said that he and police understand the game is meant for fun, however, if students want to participate they should not be using water guns that look like firearms.
“Use a Super Soaker or something that is clearly identifiable as a squirt gun,” he said. But in these cases, we’re seeing black squirt guns which look like our police issued Glock, for example.”
With files from CityNews’ Mark Douglas.
