What started as a senior prank in Portage ended with an 18-year-old honor student in handcuffs, a felony charge on the books, and three nights in the county jail.
Police say a Portage High School senior was arrested and charged with felony intimidation after a water gun he carried for the popular “Senior Assassin” game was mistaken for a real firearm. Multiple 911 callers reported seeing what looked like a gun in the parking lot of a Planet Fitness, prompting a heavy police response. The student says he spent three nights in the Porter County Jail and is due back in court next Wednesday.
According to ABC7 Chicago, the response unfolded Friday afternoon at the Planet Fitness lot at 6221 U.S. Highway 6, after callers reported a man holding what appeared to be a gun. Ten on-duty Portage officers, two off-duty officers, and a Porter County deputy converged on the scene, where they found Adrian Williams, 18, inside a vehicle with a toy water gun in the passenger compartment.
Williams told reporters he was in the middle of the long-running “Senior Assassin” game and said he had bought the squirt gun on TikTok. He told KPTV that officers used force as he tried to explain what was going on. Officials charged him with felony intimidation, and he spent three nights at the Porter County Jail. Per NBC Chicago, he is scheduled to be back in court next Wednesday.
Why officers treated it as an active threat
Police and local outlets say the toy’s realistic look, including what witnesses described as an extended magazine, led officers to treat the situation as a possible active-shooter incident until they could confirm the gun was not real. As CBS Chicago reported, increasingly realistic replica weapons have already triggered close calls and warnings from suburban departments.
School and family reaction
Among Portage High parents and students, the case landed with a thud, stirring up a mix of frustration and worry. Many say the “Senior Assassin” game has been a local tradition for years, but that some of the newer replicas look far too real for comfort.
ABC7 Chicago reports that Williams’ mother describes him as a football player and honor-roll student, and says the family was told his scholarship to St. Xavier University is not in jeopardy at this point.
What comes next
Williams faces a felony intimidation charge that will now play out in court. Local outlets report that prosecutors and police are expected to release more details as the case moves forward.
NBC Chicago reported that community leaders are likely to push for clearer messaging about the “Senior Assassin” game and the risks of ultra-realistic toy weapons in the days ahead, as Portage tries to sort out where youthful tradition ends and public safety begins.
