Crime & Safety
Boy Injured Riding Bike By Teens Doing TikTok Orbeez Challenge: Police
A group of teens doing the "Orbeez" challenge injured a boy by shooting him with splatter guns, police said.
PEACHTREE CITY, GA — Peachtree City police said a boy riding his bike Monday was injured by teens shooting plastic “splatter guns.”
Police said the boy was surrounded by teens on a golf cart path when he was shot with splatter ball guns. They said that the violent attacks are “getting out of hand” as they’re seeing more cases. Teens are using the Orbeez brand splat guns to shoot strangers and each other, police said.
They released images of the boy, who isn’t being identified, with a bloodied nose and bruises near his chest.
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The "Orbeez Challenge" is the latest dangerous social media trend on TikTok. It encourages people to shoot strangers with small gel-like beads that expand when placed in water. Orbeez creates the beads and the gun separately, but they're not meant to hurt. Kids have been putting the beads into replica guns. The products can be purchased at retailers like Walmart and Target.
This article has been updated. The original version said the incident occurred in Gwinnett County.
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