Senior Assassin Game Warning Sent In Paulding: 'Go Study Instead'

DALLAS, GA — The Paulding County Sheriff's Office is playing no games with high school seniors planning to "eliminate" their targets using water guns.

The targets in the Senior Assassin game are other participating seniors, New Jersey law enforcement stated.

"As part of the game, students may be seen waiting in parked vehicles, chasing one another in neighborhoods or attempting to surprise their targets. While school grounds and sporting events are considered off-limits, public areas, residential neighborhoods and businesses are not," police in New Jersey stated.

Local authorities cautioned against playing the game in Paulding County, saying they were aware of the high-school activity. They likened it to "ding dong ditch," where people knock on someone's front door and run away before the person comes to the door.

"Why on God's green earth do you think it’s okay to be dressed in all black, running around with guns—regardless of whether they are real or fake—and knocking on folks' doors? When your parents were young, they played 'ding dong ditch.' In 2025, you can’t be doing that. The consequences are real and extremely dangerous. We have other things we need to be worried about, and chasing you down isn’t one of them. If you keep it up, you’re going to find yourselves in a situation you don’t want to be in. End of rant. Go study instead," Paulding authorities wrote in a Facebook post published Wednesday.

The game has spread nationally, not only reaching Georgia and New Jersey, but also landing in Virginia.

Police in Virginia Beach sent their own message to teenagers. They warned about the ramifications of the game, including innocent bystanders becoming accidental targets, WTKR reported.

Patch editor Karen Wall contributed reporting to this story.