Senior pranks are one of the traditions at many high schools.
But sometimes they go too far.
And a senior prank turned tragic for a Florida student after this awful case of mistaken identity.
High school student shot in senior assassin game
A senior prank turned potentially deadly for a high school football player in Nassau County, Florida.
The 18-year-old student was playing the “Senior Assassin” game where teams of students try to eliminate each other with toy guns in a competition.
An off-duty Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent discovered three students “prowling” around his home in Nassau County.
He did not realize they were playing the Senior Assassin game.
The off-duty agent mistook the high school football player’s toy gun for the real thing.
He thought the student was a home invader and shot him in the arm.
“These types of games may seem innocent, but when you have young people sneaking around in the dark wearing masks and carrying objects that could be mistaken for weapons, you’re creating a potentially deadly situation,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper stated.
The high school football player was taken to a University of Florida Health clinic for the gunshot wound to his arm.
His injuries are not life-threatening but he will have to have surgery to repair a broken arm.
Dangerous senior prank spreads throughout the country
The senior assassin game is not a high school prank confined to Florida.
Officials warn that the senior prank is being played across the country.
The participants use water guns or realistic-looking airsoft guns while they try to come up with creative places to hide to surprise the other team.
Law enforcement claimed that students have trespassed on private property trying to set up an ambush for the game.
Florida prosecutor Melissa Nelson warned the game has become popular in the Sunshine State and nationwide.
“We ask for your help in shutting the game down,” Nelson said at a press conference.
A group of students in Illinois went into a diner last year with squirt guns while wearing ski masks to surprise another student playing senior assassin.
They had a gun pulled on them by a customer at the restaurant who thought they were robbing the place.
Fortunately, no one was injured during the prank.
“[We] would like to emphasize that the depiction of firearms, whether real or imitation, in any public setting, is a matter of concern and may instill fear among the public,” the Gurnee, Illinois Police Department said in a statement. “We urge community members to reconsider their participation in such activities and recognize the seriousness of their actions.”
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters told Fox News that parents needed to talk to their kids about the potential dangers involved with playing the game.
“The teenage mindset is that it will never happen to me. I’ll be just fine. I can play this game; nothing is ever going to happen to me. Unfortunately, we saw what happened in Nassau County yesterday. We do not want young people NOT to have fun. That is not our goal here. The goal is to make sure everyone is safe,” Waters stated. “We would ask that you seriously re-evaluate what you’re doing and find another way to have fun.”
Senior pranks are supposed to be harmless fun, but the assassin game is crossing the line.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
