“Senior Assassin” is organized and run separately from District 303 or St. Charles North High School; it is not associated with or supported by either organization.
High school seniors across the country, including at North, are participating in a controversial game that has led to misunderstandings with police and other citizens.
“Senior Assassin” is a game where participants are assigned another participating senior in their school as a “target.” The goal of the game is for players to track down and “eliminate” their targets by spraying them with a water gun while avoiding being tagged themselves. The last player or players standing usually take a prize pool.
This controversial game has occurred in the past, with some North seniors participating since at least 2022, but it has seen increased publicity this year after the game led to police intervention in many Illinois towns.
According to The Daily Herald, a waitress at a Gurnee restaurant had to de-escalate a situation between a customer with an Illinois Concealed Carry License and a group of participating students after the customer mistook their realistic water guns for real weapons, and in Itasca, two participants caused a rollover crash as one of the seniors lost control of the vehicle during a car chase. No one was seriously injured in the crash. The Daily Herald also reported that St. Charles police have responded to reports of teens hiding behind cars while holding what looked like firearms.
“I would say first and foremost, the biggest danger [of the game] is really perspective of the public,” School Resource Officer Bryce Rentschler said. “When the general public sees some of the behaviors that go on with Senior Assassin, a lot of times it can be misconstrued to be something more sinister.”
Rentschler said that North administration has not acted on the game this year, nor do they plan to if there are no serious incidents at North.
“We discussed it, but I think it is one of those things where we haven’t had an abundance of issues related to it,” Rentschler said. “In the past, when it was brought up, we addressed it there, but I don’t think we’ve really discussed being proactive in that regard.”
Incidents in nearby towns have caused concern for some North parents, however.
“My dad was a little skeptical [of Senior Assassin],” an anonymous senior participant said. “[He worried about] me possibly doing something stupid or getting into an accident.”
At many schools, the game has rules set in place to reduce the chances of these situations; however, these are often reactive and participants will seek out loopholes.
For example, the North student who organized their Senior Assassin game said that they put in place a rule that participants have to explain the game to their parents, so they do not accidentally call the police on participants. However, this rule was not put in place until after the incident with St. Charles police.
Participants are also not allowed to eliminate other players at school, work, religious places, and other school-related activities. These rules try to make the game safer for both participants and the public, but they are not always followed.
“This year at least, a lot of people have gone around the rules,” the organizer, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
Rentschler warns students to be cautious if they are participating in the game.
“It’s not tolerated here at the school, so keep it out of the school setting,” Rentschler said. “And understand that before you partake in any type of game like this, that what people are seeing isn’t necessarily what you’re intending for them to see. There can be a lot of dangers and mixed messages sent that can shock and scare people and lead to even more dangerous situations.”
