HEWITT, Texas — Central Texans beware of people partaking in the #OrbeezChallenge. Orbeez seeds look harmless but when used to cause harm, can cause harm and lead to big time punishment.
Local authorities have not yet had any reports of incidents of this happening, but some have taken to social media to warn that this is going on.
The trend has over a million views on the popular social media platform 'TikTok' but some videos show instances of kids running around their neighborhoods shooting Orbeez at each other.
"At the minimum you're looking at an assault and depending upon the severity of the injury could be anywhere from a minor assault, which would be a Class C all the way up into a felony grade offense for serious bodily injury," Hewitt Police Chief Jim Devlin told KCEN.
Serious punishment for what some might consider lighthearted horseplay.
Some kids have even taken the trend to school and with the rising concerns over school shootings, weapons on school campuses can lead to bigger issues.
"Think of this in the context of shooting events on school grounds, or somebody pulls out a weapon right fictitious weapon, and they start shooting their friends," Devlin says. "You know, there are a lot of people that are not going to know that that's a fictitious weapon."
Devlin says in this day and age it's becoming more important for parents to have discussions with their kids about what they're watching on social media and also understanding the importance of weapon safety. But in the age of social media he understands the challenges that come with keeping young kids off of social media.
Until the issue becomes bigger, Chief Devlin says he hopes that they won't have to deal with this and that they will spread the necessary awareness to avoid this becoming a major problem.