HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Police warn participating in a new TikTok challenge could end in criminal charges.
The challenge involves teens shooting air-soft type guns that shoot gel-like pellets at each other or even strangers.
Hendersonville Police Department officer Jamie Owens said it's happening all over the country.
The Splatterball, or Orbeez Challenge, is popping up on social media and around Hendersonville, Owens said.
"We took reports on consecutive days of kind of similar incidents of kids doing a TikTok challenge called the splatter gun challenge," said Owens. "They were chasing each other through a public area, shooting each other with splatter ball guns and witnesses saw both of these and they called in."
Owens said officers responded to two separate calls last month, where witnesses said they saw the teens shooting airsoft-type guns at one another.
The teens were not charged with a crime, but Owens said this could have been a lot more dangerous if a bystander was hit by these gel-like pellets.
"There are some versions where some kids are spray painting the splatter ball guns or Orbeez guns a solid black to make them look like real actual weapons," said Owens. "You know, that's extremely dangerous in so many ways."
The police department wants to get the word out now and warn parents before fun turns into danger.
"The whole point of all of this, people don't know what they're witnessing when they see that, and I think parents will think about it that way. They won't really look at this as just innocent, innocent fun," Owens said.
Police officials said shooting someone with one of those toy guns could result in an assault charge.
