Departments have raised concern about the ‘Orbeez Challenge’ in recent days, and some have announced that it has led to arrests. The name of the challenge stems from a brand of gel beads that are shot out of toy guns.
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office in Florida detailed several incidents in which people have allegedly been targeted through the latest social media trend. The sheriff’s office said that in one incident, a woman pushing a child in a stroller “was the victim of a drive-by Orbeez shooting.”
The sheriff’s office posted a video of that incident on Twitter Wednesday. In it, a car drives by, and projectiles can be heard whizzing through the air as the woman appears to move out of the way.
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office said the Port Orange Police Department is investigating. When contacted by Newsweek, the police department said it had only just heard about the incident and had no further information.
Deputies also arrested three other teenagers in connection with shootings of Orbeez beads.
The Fernandina Beach Police Department in Florida also issued a warning about the Orbeez trend on Facebook Tuesday.
Feranadina Beach Police Deputy Chief Jeff Tambasco told Newsweek in an interview Thursday that there have been three reports of victims being targeted via the TikTok challenge in his community. All three victims have declined to file charges, and all of those who allegedly fired beads were teenagers, Tambasco said.
Tambasco said the department posted a warning about the trend on Facebook to notify the public and also “to really get it across to these kids, ‘Is this something you really want to be on the other end of?’” He said that while no one has been seriously injured in his community, the gel projectiles have the potential to be very dangerous.
In an interview with Newsweek Thursday, Corporal Donte Phillips of the Peachtree City Police in Georgia said that two middle-school-aged minors face assault charges for allegedly firing Orbeez at “two small young males riding their bikes.”
The projectiles “caused visible bodily injury,” Phillips said.
“Right now we’re really urging our parents to have a conversation with their young adults and teens about the dangers of the social media trend,” he said.
