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CHICAGO (CBS) — Police in Woodstock warned that firing water beads at others is a crime, after some people were hit with the beads in a Walmart parking lot as part of a TikTok challenge.
On Monday, Woodstock police were called to a Walmart parking lot after learning an unspecified number of people had been shot with water pellets while in the parking lot.
Police learned the incident was likely part of the “Orbeez Challenge” on TikTok, in which people use a toy gun to shoot others with Orbeez water beads.
The victims in this incident were not injured, but Orbeez beads can cause injuries, police emphasized.
Neither the shooter nor their vehicle was located. But Woodstock police reminded anyone who partakes in the TikTok challenge that they can be arrested and charged with a crime.
In Mount Prospect, that has already happened two teens. Late in March, the two 16-year-olds were arrested after reports that someone had been shot by an airsoft gun that was fired from a passing vehicle at School Street and Berkshire Lane.
A responding officer found a car that matched the victim’s description and pulled over the car in the 100 block of South Emerson Street. Officers found the two teens in the car had two electric air guns with water beads, or Orbeez, inside.
The teens were charged with disorderly conduct and possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.
A week earlier in Barrington, a juvenile suspect was charged with shooting multiple students with a water bead gun as part of the same challenge.
Barrington police said they learned the juvenile suspect shot at several people with an item that was identified as a SplatRBall Water Bead Blaster. Police did not specify whether the juvenile suspect is also a Barrington High School student.
Matt Petterson – a transgender junior at Barrington High School – believes he was targeted in something more sinister than a TikTok challenge.
“My boyfriend got shot in the face, and he has a bruise there now,” Matt told us last week.
Barrington High School sent a letter, acknowledging students who were victims of this incident are members of the LGBTQ community; and also stating “harassment, bullying, or intimidation of any kind will not be tolerated.”
The trend has been reported across the country and has sometimes caused serious and permanent injuries for the victims.
Source: ChicagoCBS
