St. Louis police warned parents that their children’s pretend gunplay with a popular toy weapon could turn tragic.
Police apprehended six juveniles they say were shooting gel blaster guns at each other in downtown St. Louis on Monday night.
One underage teen was taken into juvenile detention for a possible parole violation, and police say they’ll continue to investigate the actions of a 19-year-old involved in the incident. The other youths were released to their parents after a trip to Central Patrol. Police were initially alerted by a security guard at a nearby Metro station.
“While this specific incident might not be criminal in nature, we have had recent incidents involving gel blasters or splatter guns as well as airsoft and BB and pellet guns,” Sgt. Gary Wall told reporters Tuesday at St. Louis police headquarters. “Sometimes people are indiscriminately targeting individuals that are not taking any part in any type of what might be considered play, or just kids being kids.”
The four plastic toys police seized around 9:15 p.m. Monday are made in shapes that roughly resemble that of an automatic weapon but are colored in shades of pink, gold and gray. Police also seized a cache of the gel balls that the guns fire and six Roman candles.
Shooting gel pellets or other items at unsuspecting passersby can cross the line into assault, Wall said. He did not provide statistics showing an increase in these incidents but said anecdotal information suggests they are on the rise. One recent incident included someone shooting a gel blaster gun at pedestrians from a moving vehicle, he said.
“It’s not appropriate to shoot any of these types of toys, if that’s what we want to call them, at unsuspecting individuals. It, by the letter of the law, could be considered an assault, and there are very real consequences for it,” Wall said.
Toy guns can also be mistaken for deadly weapons by strangers who misunderstand what they’re seeing amid a pretend shootout, Wall added.
“Maybe they are lawfully carrying an actual firearm themselves, and in the heat of the moment they believe somebody is being assaulted with another firearm because of what appears to be a real firearm and not a toy, and it can have deadly consequences,” he said.
Police asked people who have been hit by anyone armed with gel blaster guns or splatter guns to report the incident to police.
