Midwest
Trending 'Senior Assassin' TikTok game 'could get someone hurt or killed', police say
A trending TikTok game with virtually no rules is going to get someone killed or arrested, police warned.
Law enforcement and educators around the country are warning parents and community members about the new social media challenge called “Senior Assassin,” where players “tag” or “hit” their targets while running around their neighborhoods.
It started with a physical tag or water guns, but the challenge escalated to where players – typically high school age – are using paintball and air soft guns that look like real firearms, and videos of the “hits” are uploaded.
But the “hits” look like real violent crimes. In one incident, a player broke into another player’s home, according to Police Chief Scott Rifenberg in Cheboygan County, Michigan. In another instance, ski-mask-wearing players ran through a restaurant and came face to face with a licensed concealed pistol carrier.
POLICE WARN HIGH SCHOOLS’ ‘SENIOR ASSASSINS’ GAMES COULD TURN DEADLY
Participants in “Senior Assassin” are tasked with hunting and tagging other players, usually with a water gun, to eliminate them. This often includes hiding and waiting, which usually looks suspicious, police warned. (Adobe Stock)
“This could get someone hurt or killed,” Cheboygan County Sheriff Tim Cook said in a joint warning with Chief Rifenberg. “If another individual believes a person’s life is being threatened and takes action on their own believing they are witnessing some sort of assault with a deadly weapon, as some of these toy guns have the appearance of a real firearm.”
The local Michigan PSA was published in Tuesday’s Facebook post, but the game is playing out in neighborhoods across the country.
KAREN READ MURDER TRIAL FILLED WITH EXPLOSIVE ACCUSATIONS AS DAY 2 KICKS OFF: ‘BOMBSHELL AFTER BOMBSHELL’
A Pennsylvania reporter wrote about the trend in a first-person story for the York Daily Record going back to last May.
“I was folding laundry when I heard kids screaming near the area of my backyard,” Angel Albring wrote. “I stepped out onto my balcony to see several teenagers crouched down in the alleyway behind my yard.
“They were all wearing dark clothing and hoodies, hoods, and carrying what looked to be guns from my distance.”
The Village of Bartlett in Illinois shared a photo of two guns, cautioning residents about a high school “Senior Assassins” game. (Village of Bartlett – Illinois/Facebook)
Luckily, Albring said she saw enough of their faces and recognized them as kids from the neighborhood. But that might not always be the case, law enforcement and educators warn, as the game’s antics are becoming increasingly more dangerous.
“Around the country, it is being played in neighborhoods, around towns, in business, and it is also occurring in moving vehicles,” Rifenberg said.
In the Cheboygan area, 40 to 50 students from the area schools were playing last week, and one student “tried to escape a hit” in a car and backed into another car.
WATCH: BODYCAM FROM QUIET CONNECTICUT TOWN SHOWS GUNMAN CHARGE OFFICERS: THIS IS YOU, THIS AIN’T ME’
“We realized the students are out just trying to have fun, but this game is just way too dangerous to play in and around a community or school,” area police said in a statement.
Two weeks ago, police in Satellite Beach, Florida issued a similar warning after a flood of 911 calls.
“Our officers respond to each of these 911 calls without knowledge of whether this is an incident of students just having fun or an actual crime,” Satellite Beach police said in a statement.
Players’ water guns can be mistaken for real weapons, police have warned. (Adobe Stock)
Police in Satellite Beach, Florida, warned about “Senior Assassin” TikTok game. (Satellite Beach Police Department)
Virginia school leaders sent a letter to parents in mid-April about the game. “In stressful or high-pressure situations, it can be very difficult to quickly differentiate a toy gun from a real firearm. This confusion can lead to misidentification and potentially tragic consequences,” educators said, according to NBC Washington.
The game escalated to a point where Philadelphia took legislative measures that banned ski masks around city schools, day cares, rec centers, parks, city-owned buildings and on public transportation, according to a December report by NBC Philadelphia.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
Kansas
Kansas Highway Patrol reports five-vehicle crash in Johnson Co. Friday
JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (WIBW) – Multiple people were involved in a five-vehicle crash Friday in Johnson County.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol Crash Log, the crash occurred around 4:55 p.m. on Interstate 35.
Five vehicles: a 2021 Toyota Tacoma, a 2010 Toyota Sienna, a 2014 Honda Pilot, a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu, and a 2018 Ford Mustang, were all traveling northbound on the I-35 long ramp to 75th Street.
The 2021 Toyota Tacoma exited the roadway to the right and struck the rear of the 2010 Toyota Sienna.
The 2021 Toyota Tacoma then continued northbound and struck the 2024 Honda Pilot.
The Honda Pilot was pushed and struck the rear of the 2017 Chevrolet Malibu, which then lost control and struck the 2018 Ford Mustang. The Chevrolet Malibu then struck the barrier wall.
There were no serious injuries reported in the incident.
The driver of the Toyota Tacoma, a 28-year-old male of Kansas City, Kan., was taken to a hospital with a possible injury. He was wearing a safety restraint.
The Toyota Sienna driver, a 23-year-old female, of Merriam, Kan., had no apparent injuries and was wearing a safety restraint.
The Honda Pilot driver, a 75-year-old male of Lenexa, Kan., had no apparent injuries and was wearing a safety restraint.
The driver of the Chevrolet Malibu, a 31-year-old female of Kansas City, Kan., had no apparent injuries and was wearing a safety restraint.
The 2018 Ford Mustang held two occupants. The driver, a 19-year-old male of Garden Plain, Kan., had no apparent injuries and was wearing a safety restraint.
The other occupant in the vehicle was an 18-year-old female of Goddard, Kan. She did not have any apparent injuries and was wearing a safety restraint.
View the full Kansas Highway Patrol Crash log on this incident here.
Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.
Michigan
First Film to Depict a Robot Discovered in Michigan
A long-lost silent film that’s believed to be the first depiction of a robot in motion pictures was rediscovered in Michigan. And it’s a great reminder for film history fans that you shouldn’t give up hope just because a film has been deemed lost.
The film, titled “Gugusse and the Automaton,” is just 45 seconds long and was created in 1897 by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. It shows a magician named Gugusse turning a large crank to control Pierrot Automate, a child-sized robot. The robot grows bigger and bigger until it’s an adult.
Once full size, the robot does a little dance before hitting Gugusse over the head with a stick. Gugusse brings the robot down from his pedestal and then shows him what’s what.
Gugusse hits the robot over the head with a gigantic mallet, each swing making the mechanical man a little smaller until he’s back to his child-like size. Another swing makes the robot a small doll and then it’s just one more mallet slap before the robot disappears completely.
With that, the film is over.
It’s a short film with a goofy, slapstick premise. But it’s also an artifact that can be interpreted similarly to so much robot-focused media that would come later in the 20th century. The robot harms a human, the human needs to destroy the robot.
We see anti-robot stories pop up especially during difficult economic times, like the 1930s and 1970s, something I’ve written about before at length. And if you’re wondering whether there were hard economic times in France during the 1890s, there certainly were—in the form of a double dip recession, no less.
But putting aside the potential message of the film (and the risk of taking it too seriously as a sign of broader social frustrations), the story of how this film was rediscovered is fascinating.
Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drove a box of films that belonged to his great-grandfather to the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia so that experts could take a look at what he had.
McFarland’s great-grandfather was a man named William Delisle Frisbee who had worked jobs as a school teacher and a potato farmer in Pennsylvania, according to a blog post from the Library of Congress. But he also worked nights as a “traveling showman,” according to the Library.
“He drove his horse and buggy from town to town to dazzle the locals with a projector and some of the world’s first moving pictures,” the Library explains. “He set up shop in a local schoolroom, church, lodge or civic auditorium and showed magic lantern slides and short films with music from a newfangled phonograph. It was shocking.”
Frisbee died in 1937 and two trunks of his possessions were passed on through generations until they made their way to McFarland, who was unable to screen the movies from himself because of their condition.
The Library posted a video to Instagram talking about their acquisition of the film and how remarkable it is that such an old film was found. It’s estimated that as much as 90% of films made before 1930 are lost to history.
Other films in the trunks included another Méliès film from 1900 titled “The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match,” fragments of a Thomas Edison movie called “The Burning Stable.” Library technicians scanned the films in 4K to preserve them for future generations.
The word “robot” wasn’t coined until 1920 for the Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. But visions of artificial men date back centuries. And it’s incredible to see a robot from the 1890s depicted on film for the first time. Even if it’s just 45 seconds long.
Don’t give up hope if you’re longing to watch some movie that’s believed to be completely lost. You never know what someone may have in a dusty old trunk in Michigan.
Minnesota
How ICE’s presence is affecting child care in Minnesota
-
World3 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts3 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Louisiana6 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Denver, CO3 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Technology1 week agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT