27°
The teens were headed to the Walmart off Route 46 in Teterboro as part of the increasingly popular "Senior Assassin" game when they say they were cut off.
Played by high school seniors and university students, the group-chat game involves teams that "eliminate targets" by shooting at one another with water guns that fire gel pellets, then share the encounters on social media.
It's naturally caused concern in certain circles, given the potential for harm outside a controlled environment if any of the "shooters" are perceived, reported or confronted.
In this case, it brought police from neighboring towns.
The six 17-year-olds piled into the vehicle were "really good kids" and not trouble-making delinquents, South Hackensack Police Detective Sgt. James Donatello said.
They were headed to the Walmart parking lot to face off against another group when one of the backseat passengers fired a few water gel pellets from an Orbeez at the Uber driver late Saturday, June 3, the sergeant said.
The Asian rideshare driver followed them, Donatello said, but then thought better of it. He drove off, parked and got out his phone to call 911.
Just then the teens rode past. The driver got their license plate and gave it to South Hackensack police, who tracked down the adult parent whose son and daughter had the car.
Meanwhile, someone called to report a group of kids with BB guns in the Walmart parking lot, bringing Moonachie police.
In the end, the brother and sister each got summonses -- underage, on probationary driver's licenses, with too many passengers in their mom's car -- because both claimed to be driving, Donatello said.
The backseat passenger who fired the Orbeez received a summons for throwing objects from a motor vehicle, he said.
Moonachie police, for their part, were still investigating.
"Playing the game in public is probably a bad idea," Donatello said. "Thank God nobody got hurt.
"This is that time of year when too many tragedies often happen," he explained. "These days, you could get a situation where all someone hears is 'pop-pop-pop' and they think it's something that it's not."
Click here to follow Daily Voice Paterson and receive free news updates.
