San Mateo law enforcement raise concerns over dangerous teen trend

“When we were kids we would run around the neighborhood and hit each other with water guns. They looked like water guns, and they didn’t look like a firearm,” Surratt said. “Now everything is a little bit more organized, and everyone is on social media. They’re still just trying to have fun, but they’re using a water gun that very much looks like a real firearm.”

In one recent incident on Friday, March 8, an adolescent group was detained at the Hillsdale Shopping Center after members of the public raised concern about potential firearms in their midst.

“If you go to a mall with a real firearm, of course people are going to call, and there’s potential for the water gun to be mistaken as a firearm, and that’s real dangerous,” Surratt said.

A prior instance occurred when two teens playing the game walked into the backyard of an unrelated resident’s property on the east side of the city. After reviewing their camera footage, the resident called the police with the assumption the teens were trying to break into their house, as they were holding the black, fake firearms.

“All you see [on the camera recording] is two juveniles with firearms walking around their backyard, so obviously the resident was very scared and called us,” Surratt said.

He said he is not aware of such instances in neighboring cities but assumes it will likely spread to other places.