‘Senior Assassin’ player comes face to face with police looking for real armed suspects

CTV’s Jeff Keele has more on how a popular water gun game almost got a young Winnipegger in trouble with police.

Following a close call, Winnipeg police are once again urging graduating high school students to put their water guns away.

“The WPS advises against engaging in this activity given the potential risk to players,” said Const. Claude Chancy.

Senior Assassin is a live-action outdoor game growing in popularity, where students eliminate each other with water guns until there is a lone survivor.

The WPS and RCMP have both cautioned that water guns can be mistaken for real ones by members of the public and police officers. Now Winnipeg police can back up that concern with a real-life example.

On May 12 and 13, police responded to four real shootings in the West End. On the 300 block of Toronto Street, gunshots were fired in the air in a rear lane. While looking for the armed suspects, officers came upon a youth holding a water gun who was playing Senior Assassin.

“It becomes a possibly dangerous situation for not only for the police officers but obviously for the young adult that was playing the game,” said Const. Chancy.

Luckily, no one was hurt, but police say officers have to treat anything resembling a gun as the real deal until they know otherwise.

“As I can imagine they would approach with real uncertainty to whether or not that was a real firearm,” said Const. Stephen Spencer.

Parent Keisha Boss lives in the neighbourhood. She’s encouraged to hear students are playing outside away from their phones or tablets.

“It’s great to see kids still out and about,” said Boss.

But Boss says with the number of firearms on city streets and police on the lookout, she believes water balloons might be a better option.

“A manner that doesn’t you know bring a little bit of alarm to other people,” said Boss. “If you’re far enough away they’re not going to notice it’s a water gun right away, they’re just going to be like oh no.”

Winnipeg police say they are realistic and know that despite their warning, the game will go on. They are sharing safety tips, telling students to avoid public areas like restaurants, malls and libraries, as well as private property, to not chase people in vehicles, avoid disguises or masks, and to co-operate fully if stopped by police.

As for the actual shootings, police say they arrested two 17-year-old males with masks, who are charged with several firearm and drug offences.