ELLWOOD CITY — One week after an Ellwood City freshman was the victim of an alleged attack at Lawrence County Career and Technical Center, we are learning it was part of a new TikTok trend.
The trend is called the “Orbeez Challenge” and is leaving students with injuries across their bodies from an Orbeez gun.
“It’s somewhere between a nerf gun and an airsoft gun. It fires water gel pellets. Some of its users have been freezing the pellets to give it more of a sting,” said Leonard Rich, who’s the administrative director at Lawrence County Career and Technical Center.
Channel 11 first told you about this incident that happened inside the school last Monday, when the student’s parents questioned the district.
Now the school is speaking out about the dangers involved with the trend.
“We really have no room for error. In the middle of a crisis, well we can’t go, was this a toy was this not a toy? We really have to assume everything is a weapon and handle it as such,” Rich said.
Rich told Channel 11 the trend could prompt schools to go into active shooter lockdowns due to the realistic nature of the weapon. That’s why New Castle police are getting involved and laying down the law with criminal charges.
“The charges I charged the juvenile with consisted of simple assault which is a misdemeanor two and three other summary charges disorderly conduct, harassment by physical and possession of air rifle on public property,” said Corporal James Hoyland who works for New Castle police, but is also the School Resource Officer for the Lawrence County Career and Technical Center.
Corporal Hoyland said that depending on the injuries, this trend could lead to felony charges for teenagers. While he said the juvenile suspect in this case is remorseful, the situation should be a warning to parents.
“Even though it’s just a toy, it’s built just like firearm it sometimes looks like one. In the heat of the moment, if a passerby sees that in the parking lot and calls 911 there’s someone here with a gun on school property this day and age that’s taken very seriously and something really bad could happen,” Hoyland said.
The punishment for the charges will be up to the court but could include citations, community service, or removal from the home.
We did check in with police departments and school districts across the region. So far they told us that they are aware of the trend, but have not seen any local cases yet.
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