Police in parts of Canada are warning high school students about the risks of playing a game that may have the public mistaking their water guns for real weapons. In one Ontario community, police are investigating students who appear to have targeted an unhoused Indigenous man.
The trending game known as “Senior Assassin” has become popular among Grade 12 students — stress relief as they’re writing exams and preparing for graduation.
The goal is to eliminate an assigned target by squirting them with a water, nerf or pellet gun. Goggles and pool floaties give players immunity. There are several apps that collect video evidence and have a leaderboard.
It’s supposed to be harmless, only involving students playing the game.
But a video posted recently on social media shows an Indigenous man sprayed with water as he’s sitting on a step by young men driving by. CBC News is not identifying the youth who posted the video due to the police investigation.
“It was really disturbing to see that video. It made me mad, it made me hurt,” said Tania Cameron, a community activist in Kenora, Ont.
“They’re taking a cheap shot at someone who’s already having so many life struggles and now they have to deal with this.”
OPP investigating case of trending graduation game Senior Assassin
While some students and parents are speaking out about it, Cameron said she’s concerned because others are saying, ‘It’s kids being kids,’ and they don’t see the harm in it.
“It just blows my mind that they think that that kind of behavior on the unhoused is okay.… That there’s still a segment in the society that don’t see the unhoused, the vulnerable, as human beings,” Cameron said.
“Yes, it’s spring, but it’s very, very cold. It’s not safe if the unhoused are getting water blasted. They don’t have a towel, they don’t have a change of clothes, they don’t have a place to go and get warm and dry off. They’re literally living on the streets.”
None of the high school students approached by CBC News wanted to comment on the game or this video. However, we did speak to the man in the video.
While he didn’t like being sprayed, he said he didn’t want to do an interview because he doesn’t want to make waves.
But the man did have a message to the students involved: Don’t do it to anyone else.
The Ontario Provincial Police confirms it’s investigating and there could be serious consequences.
“A marginalized member of our community was struck with some water that came from … a water gun from a youth in the community so there is an active investigation going on right now,” said Const. Hayley Cheater of the Kenora detachment.
“Any unwanted physical contact or contact with something that someone doesn’t consent to could be seen as assault in the criminal code.”
Police in several jurisdictions say they’re getting 911 calls from the public, concerned about people with what appear to be firearms.
In Alberta last month, Strathcona RCMP got a call about three young people in a local business with firearms; they were later reported driving around while pointing the firearms out the window.
Officers confirmed it was water guns, but they looked real.
“While the game is meant to be fun and a way to celebrate the end of the school year, it should not create safety concerns, fear in the community, or lead to misunderstandings that require police involvement,” the detachment wrote in an Apr. 30 news release.
Last year, a high school in Guelph, Ont. was locked down and a teen arrested at gunpoint for holding what was later revealed to be a water gun.
There was a similar situation in Strathmore, Alta., in May 2025. RCMP responded to a complaint of a suspect with a gun entering Strathmore High School. Police found a student with a water gun who was participating in the game.
The issue is particularly sensitive after the deadly mass shooting at B.C.’s Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in February. Eight people were killed, including five students and an education assistant, and several others were injured.
WATCH | OPP warning to parents and students about ‘Senior Assassin’:
Police say they don’t want to throw cold water on the game but they want students to be safe and respectful.
“We never know when we’re attending a scene, is it going to be a real firearm? Is it not? We obviously have to treat everything as the utmost serious situation,” Cheater said.
Senior Assassin is not a school activity and is usually banned on school property and on school time.
In a letter sent Wednesday to parents by Beaver Brae Secondary School in Kenora, administrators echo the warning, saying: “We want to prevent a situation where a ‘harmless’ prank results in a tragic misunderstanding or a criminal record.”
In a statement, the Kenora Catholic District School Board told CBC News it is “aware of a video circulating involving after-hours activities by youth.”
“While these activities were not organized or supervised by St. Thomas Aquinas High School or the Board, KCDSB remains committed to fostering a culture of compassion, dignity, respect, and responsible decision-making within our schools and community,” it wrote.
“These expectations continue to be reinforced with students.”
