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Several 911 calls had Longwood Police Department personnel searching for a vehicle on Highway 17-92 yesterday during rush hour traffic. The calls were for a vehicle full of people that were pointing guns out the window, aiming and shooting at people. It was unknown what they were shooting.
Upon stopping the vehicle, what officers found was a car full of young kids (all but the driver were 10, 11, and 12) aiming what turned out to be Orbeez gel BB guns at strangers, shooting projectiles at them from the vehicle.
It is known as the Orbeez challenge, where the popular gel beads are frozen and loaded into a toy gun, then shot at people while driving around.
Can you tell the difference between the two pictured guns from a moving vehicle??? Did you recognize the gun on the left is a toy and the one on the right is a firearm???
In addition to injuries and property damage caused by the Orbeez, the trend could also insight fear or panic since some of the gel guns could be mistaken for an actual firearm.
Law enforcement agencies across the country are warning members of their communities of the challenge's potential dangers. Parents if you have these toy guns in your home please have serious conversations about the dangers of utilizing them outside of the intended use on a controlled range. Calls like yesterday could have a serious outcome —- serious injury, fatalities, property damage and criminal charges have all been reported by police agencies across the nation.
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