La Salle County Sheriff’s Office warns of social media challenge

La Salle County Sheriff Adam Diss is warning residents about a new TikTok challenge that may cause harm to residents.

Diss said the Orbeez Challenge is causing harm to numerous people, as well as trouble with the law, noting anyone caught doing this in La Salle County could be looking at serious criminal charges.

Orbeez gun, gel blaster or splatter ball guns are all different names of the gun marketed as a children’s toy. They are available at many retailers and often sell out quickly. On TikTok there is a challenge going around to shoot these guns at random people and film their reaction, Diss said. There have been multiple reports of injuries across the nation, he said. Some of the reports include bruising, welts, and piercing the skin.

Orbeez balls are small, absorbent polymer beads made of acrylic acid, sodium hydroxide, and water. When added to water, the water molecules in the bead absorb the water and expand in size, up to 150 times their original size. When left out of water, the beads will shrink down.

These Orbeez balls can be frozen, which will cause more injuries when shot out of these guns. This is especially dangerous in the head and neck area, Diss said. These injuries that are occurring as people are shooting them into moving cars and people walking on the street.

The toy guns come in a wide range, Diss said. Some of the toy guns are brightly colored and others resemble real firearms. There is a concern these toy guns may be confused with a real firearm, the sheriff said. There also are concerns if such a toy were out in public it could cause panic.

“We would like to get this information out there so parents, guardians, teachers, and other adults in children’s lives are aware of this public safety concern,” Diss said. “Our department has already started seeing these cases and seen the injuries of this challenge. Please talk to your children.”