Trigger warning: This story mentions gun violence.
A student source will remain anonymous due to potential legal concerns and will be referred to as Source A.
Senior Assassin, a game commonly played by high school seniors across the country, faces scrutiny by the community after a social media post on April 18 by the Fremont Police Department warned residents about students carrying realistic-looking toy guns during gameplay. The post was a response to an incident in Fremont where officers reportedly drew guns on students participating in the game, sparking discussions among community members regarding safety risks surrounding the senior traditon and proposed regulations.
The Senior Assassin game involves students “eliminating” assigned targets using water guns while protecting themselves from getting eliminated. Players gain immunity to elimination by wearing designated safety items such as goggles, floaties or helmets. Some rounds, referred to as “purges,” temporarily allow participants to eliminate any participant in the game rather than only assigned targets. According to Student A, the co-host of the MVHS game, 128 seniors participated in this year’s independently organized game, which costs $10 to join.
“We had everyone fill out a Google Form, and then they paid us through Venmo,” Student A said. “We randomly give them their assignments, and then we’ll text them with their assignments every week.”
According to Student A, the game is specifically organized to prevent dangerous situations and misunderstandings, including rules, regulations and a requirement for brightly colored equipment to show they are toys and not real weapons. Student A adds that locations such as libraries, school campuses and extracurricular activities are considered to be safe zones, with players notifying the hosts beforehand about private spaces so hosts can update the players and discourage them from trespassing. To ensure these rules are followed, the hosts have everyone participating share their location on Life360, a location-sharing app, so their activity can be monitored during the game.
However, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Officer School Resource Deputy Aalok Patel believes even senior traditions with good intentions can have unintended consequences if students fail to consider how their actions might appear to others. He says situations involving realistic-looking toy guns can quickly escalate if community members believe a real weapon is involved.
“The issues that we deal with are when kids sometimes dress up and approach somebody and sneak up on them,” Patel said. “Parents have no idea what it is, and it comes off as, ‘Oh my gosh, my daughter just got shot,’ and now we’re responding to somebody getting shot versus somebody getting shot with Orbeez guns during a senior prank.”
Patel says officers responding to reports involving possible firearms are trained to assume weapons are real until proven otherwise. Although participants may see toy guns as part of a harmless game, Patel says officers are forced to judge the situation based on what appears dangerous in the moment, not what students intend.
“Even if it has an orange tip on it, you can spray paint an orange tip on a real gun,” Patel said. “Every day in America a police officer gets killed. We watch a lot of training videos, and we train to react to that threat. No police officer wants to hurt somebody. But when someone presents a weapon to us, it is concerning, and we just hope that the kids drop the weapon right away and realize what they’re doing is a mistake.”
Law enforcement emphasizes dangers surrounding water guns, noting that any weapon-like object, especially dark or metal replicas, can prompt a defensive reaction. While bright-colored water guns are less likely to be confused for real firearms, it can be risky in low-light and high-stress situations. Student A says they warn participants using realistic-looking water guns, especially after similar incidents involving senior assassin games were reported in other communities.
“We genuinely advise this at the beginning to please have brightly colored guns and not carry them around and have your equipment on too, so it looks a little more playful,” Student A said. “We’ve seen it on the news. The students also know about incidents like this that happen. So we try our best to avoid it.”
Senior and participant Lauren Moore agrees with Student A and emphasizes that the organizers actively try to avoid dangerous situations. However, she says that the debate around the senior assassin game reveals a larger problem between how students experience the game and how it can appear to the larger community. While Moore sees the activity as a lighthearted senior tradition, she understands why realistic-looking equipment should bring up safety concerns.
“With the current state of everything in America, seeing someone run around with what you could deem as a realistic gun is very concerning for the community,” Moore said. “But I do think that a majority of kids do not have a realistic gun. Even if they do have a realistic gun, it’s a crazy color. And banning the whole activity would be overkill. But I do think that the police department is right to worry about the safety of both the kids and the community.”
Moore says she joined the game after hearing upperclassmen discuss it last year in her AP Chemistry class. She recalls one of her most memorable moments from the game was when she was caught by one of her attackers after visiting Ranch 99, resulting in her running a mile barefoot. Despite the controversy surrounding the game, Moore hopes the tradition continues in the future, provided students remain responsible and aware of safety concerns.
“It just sounded really fun,” Moore said. “Especially with really not having anything to do second semester senior year, it gave me something fun to fill my time. Some people take it too seriously, and some administrations don’t like the game, but it doesn’t take away from my school time at all. I know a lot of parents don’t like their kids playing it and see it as distracting, but I think having fun is never a waste of time. I just hope that future generations can continue to play Senior Assassin and have fun.”
