As we approach another graduating year for 2026, the Winnipeg Police Service has begun to receive reports of a resurging social media trend involving a live-action-game involving local graduating high school students.
“Assassin” is an organized live-action game in which players, graduating high school students, engage in “taking out” fellow students using water pistols to eliminate one another in an effort to become the last surviving player. Some water pistols are made to resemble production firearms and could easily be mistaken as real.
Unassuming members of the general public not familiar with this “game” may not recognize the activity as such and place a call for police to attend, as the activity is not limited to school property and can occur at any time of day.
Unfortunately, this social media trend can add unnecessary strain on police resources as units are dispatched away from community members with legitimate calls for service.
The WPS advises against engaging in this activity given the potential risk to players where members of community or police are faced with realistic water pistols. This also may result in stress on unsuspecting community members and impact police resources ability to respond to calls for service.