During the last a number of weeks the Dearborn Police Division has responded to quite a few incidents of pedestrians and bystanders being shot at random and generally injured utilizing gel blaster toy weapons. These instances have been related to a social media pattern on TikTok—a short-form video sharing app—referred to as the “Orbeez Problem.”
As a part of the pattern, younger customers movie themselves loading Orbeez balls, that are water-absorbent polymer beads, into gel blaster weapons, and driving by and taking pictures individuals at random. The projectile beads are able to inflicting accidents, probably extreme, in delicate areas of the physique.
“As soon as once more we discover ourselves coping with a harmful pattern on social media that has influenced our younger individuals to make harmful decisions that may have lifetime penalties,” Police Chief Issa Shahin mentioned. “I encourage dad and mom to speak to their children about what they see on social media and to concentrate to the following inevitable harmful pattern that’s certain to come up. The Dearborn Police Division can have a zero-tolerance strategy to actions reminiscent of this that pose hazard to the general public.”
The Dearborn Police Division has arrested a teenage Dearborn resident, who’s now going through assault prices, in reference to the pattern. The person’s id is being withheld pending arraignment within the nineteenth District Courtroom.