Officials all across the United States sound the alarm on a new TikTok trend dubbed the “Orbeez Challenge.”
This challenge consists of young people using gel blasters, which are essentially airsoft guns specially made to fire Orbeez, to shoot the squishy projectiles at unsuspecting people going about their day-to-day lives. As you can imagine, this challenge is by no means harmless, even though Orbeez are made of gel.
Earlier this month in Utah, a group of teens was driving around a parking lot and firing Orbeez at unsuspecting people. As a result, bystanders blocked the “juveniles” in, with one man even drawing his firearm and demanding that the teens hand over their gel gun. Another person on the scene also allegedly punched one of the teens multiple times before retrieving the gel blaster.
Similar incidents occurred within the same state earlier this week. One March 15 occurrence involved two masked men entering a restaurant and firing the gel gun at diners—who weren’t aware that the projectiles were nonlethal until after being shot.
A “drive-by Orbeez shooting also accosted further southeast, a Florida mother and her young child,” Similar incidents in the Sunshine State led to an Amazon delivery driver and a 10-year-old child getting pelted. Sean McMullen, 19, was ultimately arrested for the latter two occurrences.
HEADS UP: The Orbeez Challenge can get you in trouble. Multiple agencies have had reports of people hit by gel beads fired from toy blaster guns.
— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) March 16, 2022
Recently, deputies arrested a 19-year-old who shot an Amazon driver in @CityofDeltona. He was hit in his glasses & neck while driving. pic.twitter.com/RI6GQvElVz
In response to this troublesome trend, people have begun issuing warnings to juveniles who may be interested in this TikTok challenge.
“They could face criminal charges such as assault, and they or their family members can face civil penalties if an injured person were to sue them,” Allen Teston, a chief deputy based in Texas, said.
“It could result in either police officers or citizens protecting themselves against what they think is lethal force being used against them and engage them and result in significant injuries or death,” he continued.
Amy Mersiovsky, the director and chair of Texas A&M University-Central Texas’ Department of Nursing, added that social issues rooted in the COVID-19 pandemic could be responsible for this surge in Orbeez incidents.
“We’ve had such issues with kids feeling social isolation during the pandemic,” Mersiovsky said. “Social isolation has just exploded, and social media has been one of the ways that the kids have been combating that. They’re getting that attention. They’re getting that belong that they may not be feeling otherwise.”
While it’s definitely never a good idea to shoot Orbeez at random people, there are a variety of safer, gun-free challenges involving these squishy gel beads that eager teens can turn to instead.
