BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WTRF) — It’s an after-school activity that police worry could get someone killed.
And it’s one your children might be playing right now.
The Assassin game has caused two separate Ohio Valley police incidents in one week alone.
One driver in St. Clairsville called police after noticing one teen pointing a realistic toy gun at another teen in the Longhorn parking lot.
The two 16-year-olds were arrested for inducing panic—all over a game.
Thankfully, the incident ended without any injuries…but Chief Deputy James Zusack is sounding the alarm that it could have.
Assassin is a game that’s been around for years, usually between students at the end of the school year, and is often played with water guns.
But he says today’s tension over gun violence could turn a fun warm-weather contest into a potentially lethal one.
Not only do we respond to these calls, but you have to realize that we have people with concealed carry permits in this county, you just don’t know what might happen, how people will react to it, to seeing this type of game. So I’m urging to cease the game please, because the last thing I want to do is see a kid shot or hurt because of this.
Chief Deputy James Zusack, Belmont County Sheriff’s Office
The two teens are currently being held in the Sargus Detention Center.
The Sheriff’s Office says incidents over the game are not unprecedented, but are getting worse this year.
Zusack hopes to have a talk with nearby schools about the danger.
He says his department will respond to future calls like these with manpower—whether the guns are real or not.
