{"id":320739,"date":"2026-06-26T15:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320739\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T15:48:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:48:06","slug":"orbeez-prank-trend-draws-renewed-warnings-after-teens-held-at-gunpoint-in-port-st-lucie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320739\/","title":{"rendered":"Orbeez prank trend draws renewed warnings after teens held at gunpoint in Port St. Lucie"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 What may look like a harmless social media prank is once again drawing warnings from law enforcement after a Port St. Lucie<\/a> Orbeez incident escalated into an armed confrontation.<\/p>\n

Three teenagers were held at gunpoint Wednesday morning after police said one of them fired Orbeez pellets at a vehicle in Port St. Lucie.<\/a> According to the Port St. Lucie Police Department<\/a>, officers responded around 8:50 a.m. to the area of Southwest Morelia Lane and Southwest Acapulco Terrace after reports that teens had fired what was initially believed to be a BB gun or pellet gun from a moving vehicle.<\/p>\n

Investigators later determined a 15-year-old fired a blue, white and yellow Piranha Orbeez toy gun from a moving vehicle at another vehicle carrying a man and his fianc\u00e9e, police said. The man and his fianc\u00e9e believed they were being shot at with a BB gun, followed the teens\u2019 vehicle and stayed on the phone with 911, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Police said the man, identified as 49-year-old Gregory Allen Davis, got out of his vehicle with a 9mm handgun<\/a> and ordered the teens out of their vehicle and onto the ground, where they remained until officers arrived.<\/p>\n

Body-worn camera video released by police shows the tense moments after officers arrived. One responding officer can be heard asking, \u201cWhy are we pointing guns at kids?\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said the 15-year-old admitted to firing the Orbeez gun but told investigators he thought the vehicle belonged to a friend because it was the same make and color. Police described the incident as a prank.<\/p>\n

Davis was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and false imprisonment<\/a> of a child to commit aggravated abuse. The 15-year-old was also arrested on a charge of shooting or throwing a missile at or into an occupied vehicle.<\/p>\n

The case is the latest reminder, police say, that gel blaster pranks can quickly become dangerous when victims, witnesses or officers believe a real weapon may be involved.<\/p>\n

The so-called \u201cOrbeez Challenge\u201d gained attention on social media in recent years, with people using gel blasters or similar toy guns to fire water-absorbing beads at people, vehicles or property. The beads are often marketed as toys, but law enforcement agencies have repeatedly warned that using them to shoot unsuspecting people can cause injuries, spark panic and lead to criminal charges.<\/p>\n

Florida, nationwide incidents prompt warnings<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie police issued a similar warning in 2022 <\/a>after a 16-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly shooting a teen girl in the face with a SplatRBall gun. Police said the soft gel water ball caused swelling to the girl\u2019s eye. At the time, Assistant Chief Richard Del Toro <\/a>warned that the challenge could injure people and damage property, adding that PSLPD would investigate the incidents and pursue criminal charges when appropriate.<\/p>\n

Other Florida agencies have issued similar warnings.<\/p>\n

In Volusia County, deputies warned in 2022 that the Orbeez Challenge could \u201cget you in trouble\u201d<\/a> after several reports of people being hit with gel beads fired from toy blaster guns. Deputies said one suspect shot an Amazon delivery driver in Deltona, hitting him in the glasses and neck while he was driving his route. Deputies said the same shooter also struck another adult and a 10-year-old child in the face and chest. The suspect was charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle, child abuse and two counts of battery.<\/p>\n

Volusia deputies also reported separate incidents in which people at a park and a man trimming trees outside a home were hit with pellets fired from a van. Deputies said the pellets broke the skin and left red welts. Three teens were charged with battery in that case, and an 18-year-old also faced charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.<\/p>\n

The warnings are not limited to Orbeez guns. Earlier this year, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd warned students after four Florida teens were arrested in connection with a \u201cSenior Assassins\u201d water gun <\/a>prank at Davenport High School. Authorities said reports of people in a school parking lot with what appeared to be guns triggered a school lockdown and brought deputies rushing to the scene. The items were later determined to be water guns.<\/p>\n

Judd urged students to keep games off campus, warning that bringing any type of weapon, or anything that resembles one, to school is not a joke.<\/p>\n

Compilation Video: A 2022 drive-by Orbeez incident in Port Orange, (b) an Orbeez shooting of an Amazon driver in Deltona, and (c) a car crash in Deltona involving several kids shooting pellets at each other. (Volusia County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Law enforcement agencies outside Florida have raised the same concern. In Virginia, the Henry County Sheriff\u2019s Office warned that gel blasters can sting, cause serious injuries and create a severe safety risk because they often resemble real firearms. The sheriff\u2019s office said officers or armed citizens could mistake them for real guns, especially in public places such as businesses or schools.<\/p>\n

For parents, police say the message is simple: talk to children and teenagers before a prank becomes a criminal case or a life-threatening misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

The danger is not hypothetical. In New York City, 18-year-old Raymond Chaluisant was shot and killed in 2022 after police said an off-duty correction officer opened fire during an incident investigators examined for possible ties to the Orbeez challenge<\/a>. <\/a>Authorities said a gel-blaster-style toy gun was found in the vehicle. The officer was charged after the shooting, though he was later acquitted at trial.<\/p>\n

WKRC, a CBS12 sister station, also reported a separate case in 2025 in Joliet, Illinois, where a 16-year-old was allegedly shot 25 times by an older teen after authorities said he took toy Orbeez guns from children and fired gel bullets at them near a playground.<\/a><\/p>\n

Across the country, similar incidents have prompted police warnings after postal workers, students, bystanders and drivers were struck by gel pellets. In some cases, schools have gone into alert status and 911 callers initially reported the toy guns as real weapons or BB guns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 What may look like a harmless social media prank is once again…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-320739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}