The Jackson Township Police Department is warning residents to be wary of high school students taking part in a game which could have deadly consequences.

The department on Facebook warned Thursday, Feb. 8 that “a sizable number” of seniors at Seneca Valley Senior High School have been taking part in a game called “Assassin.”

Assassin is a highly-involved game which usually features large groups of people. The objective for each player is to “eliminate” every other player with mock weapons — water guns in this case — to become the last player standing.

While the game is theoretically harmless, Jackson Township police Chief Terry Seilhamer expressed concern that a resident armed with a real weapon might not find it so harmless.

“In the daylight, you can see that they're water guns. But when it's dark out ... and these kids start chasing each other, those guns look real,” Seilhamer said. “And I fear that some citizen who is licensed to carry is going to mistake them for the real thing, and we might have a tragedy on our hands.”

According to Seilhamer, these games do not take place on school property.

“They don’t do anything on the school grounds,” Seilhamer said. “They'll do it out in the public. They'll do it in their neighborhood. That's what concerns us.”

The game is not new to Seneca Valley. According to Seilhamer, Assassin has been a tradition among high school seniors for years. However, he believes the games have been increasing in frequency and more players have been taking part this year.

“It just seems like this year there's a much larger number of students participating,” Seilhamer said. “There's been a group of seniors at Seneca Valley that get together and pool their money and do this thing.”

While Seilhamer is not aware of any cases of people being hurt or getting into legal trouble due to the game, he has heard of cases where the game has spilled out into the public.

“There have been instances where some kid is working at a restaurant, he’s getting off work, goes to his car, and somebody ambushes him with a water gun,” Seilhamer said.

“It’s fun to a certain point. But what we're concerned with is the possibility of somebody mistaking those weapons for real weapons.”

Tiffany Hernandez, content marketing specialist for Seneca Valley School District, declined to comment on the matter, except for a statement which read, “SV has no affiliation with the game.”