WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — A social media challenge has made its way to West Hartford and police and school officials are trying to stop it in its tracks.
"I heard about it this morning but I haven’t heard it in school or anywhere else I did see the email about it though," said Matthew Bonner a freshman.
A letter that went out to the West Hartford Public Schools community outlined the so-called “Orbeez Challenge" where young people are encouraged to shoot gel beads out of a toy gun and at people or cars.
"I would definitely believe it people doing it for social media for fame, likes," said Brendan Standish, a junior.
The letter said in part, “Devices like these, albeit a toy, can cause serious harm to individuals as well as to property. Pointing a toy gun can have dire consequences.”
"Dangerous stuff is seen on social media every day. Memes, people doing actual crazy stuff," Standish said.
A search for the Orbeez Challenge on TikTok comes up with a message that said, "The phrase may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines.”
However, teens in West Hartford said challenges like this one can spread quickly.
"I remember last year there was the whole like devious licks thing where people would just like steal things from like bathrooms and then like post it on like TikTok or something like that," said Andrew Lofberg, a sophomore.
Social media plays a big role in many of their lives.
"It can definitely have like a big impact on our like generation and how we behave and stuff," Lofberg said.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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