Livermore police urge high school seniors to cease playing 'Assassins'
LIVERMORE, Calif. (KGO) -- Kids say it's only a game, but police in one Bay Area city are asking high school students to stop playing it. It's called "Assassins" and Livermore police say it has dangerous consequences.
"Freshman year, everyone looks forward to playing assassins because it's a big part of senior year, I feel like, along with all the other activities seniors get to do," Livermore High School student Mikendra Kramer said.
To play, seniors buy in and are assigned a fellow senior to "assassinate" -- with mock weapons, of course. The last senior left wins all the cash.
"Sounds like a really fun game actually. It's really hard to not participate in it," Livermore High School graduate Rachel Hernandez said.
VIDEO: Livermore police want to see an end to 'Assassin' game
Hernandez graduated from Livermore High School last year. She remembers hearing about an accident in Livermore where a girl crashed her car into a house, trying to escape her fictional assassin. However, it is not the reason Hernandez didn't play.
She explained, "I think that the importance of making gun violence an awareness and making that clear to high school students is huge."
In one case, a student was seriously hurt when he was rushing to get away, hit his head and knocked himself unconscious.
Livermore police want to make clear not only can students get hurt, but the game can waste valuable police time and resources.
"We've responded to calls for service involving armed individuals chasing another person with a rifle or a handgun. We've also had prowling calls where it turns out kids are just hiding from other kids, but they're in people's yards," Livermore Police Sgt. Steve Goard said.
READ MORE: East Bay parents warned about 'Assassins' game
Police are asking students to find another game to play and they hope parents will help enforce the message.
Lisa Hernandez has a son who's a junior. She joked, "If I find out my son's doing it next year, he's going to have an assassinator at home."
Police just ask that parents talk with their kids.
