Teen charged with felony, spends 3 nights in jail after playing senior assassin game in Portage, Indiana
What's supposed to be a fun game for high school seniors left one Portage, Indiana, student with a felony and a weekend in jail.
The game is called "Senior Assassin," where students go around their neighborhood shooting their classmates with water guns until one person wins.
The issue? Some of the water guns carried by the students can be mistaken for the real deal, and that's exactly what happened over the weekend. As a result, 18-year-old Adrian Williams now fears his college scholarship could be in jeopardy.
In a split second, a game meant to be fun and light-hearted can quickly turn into serious repercussions for teenagers playing the game across the country.
Friday afternoon, Portage police received a call that a man was inside a Planet Fitness parking lot with a gun.
"When I say I never felt I've been closer to death than Friday, I really mean it. I mean, there were about four or five guns pointed at me," Williams said.
He said he was waiting by the entrance to squirt one of his classmates inside the gym with a water gun. He went inside his car for a bit when he said the police used excessive force to arrest him.
"I start yelling, 'It's a water gun, I'm a senior in high school, it's senior assassin.' They shove me to the floor, they start handcuffing me, and I'm still trying to tell them what's happening," he said.
Williams said he bought his water gun off the TikTok shop.
"The guns are looking more realistic, more tactical. It's harder to tell the difference between them," said Lake Zurich Police Sergeant Andrew Sieber in an interview with CBS Chicago last year.
He said that until police can confirm it's a squirt gun, they will treat each incident like a real firearm.
"The police, when they got there, it's understandable how they reacted. But after the fact of what they seen what he had, which was a water gun, they still managed to throw him in the back of the police car, keep him for the weekend," said Williams mother, Tiffany May.
Williams was charged with felony intimidation and held in jail for three nights.
When asked if he had any regrets after what happened, he responded, "The only thing I can regret is just coming to Planet Fitness at all that day."
Portage police said they will be releasing a press release about the incident. Last spring, police said in a statement that they do not support or condone the game.
