Woman Driving in Loveland Shot With BB Gun; Is TikTok To Blame?
Here's a case of a serious story with a potentially really stupid cause. Parents... take note. Do you know what your kids are watching and participating in on the TikTok app?
Reddit user u/MoldyFruitz reports that she and her partner had driven south on Shields St. as it turned to Taft Ave. this past weekend, roughly 40 MPH with the windows down. As they passed just to the south of 43rd Street, entering the City of Loveland, she was hit in the face through the open window with what she thought was a rock of some sort.
After a few days of pain, a worsening black eye and swollen face, she went to the ER where doctors discovered that it was not a rock, in fact, it was actually a BB that she had been shot with, and it was embedded in her face.
Naturally, when you try to assume the best in people, you'd like to think this was a random accident, where a kid was playing with a BB gun and one got away from them somehow. But recent news reports from around the country suggest it may actually be part of a trend called the "Orbeez Challenge," where kids are encouraged to randomly shoot at strangers with those little Orbeez water pellets loaded into an airsoft or pellet gun, and record their antics for TikTok videos.
In some cases, like everything else in life, reports around the country suggest the challenge has evolved from toy water pellets to actual BBs, which is terrifying and ridiculous.
The original thread on the Fort Collins subreddit includes many different stories of people who have suffered similar circumstances with BB and pellet guns in our area over the years.
Whether part of this Orbeez Challenge or not, parents should absolutely make sure their kids aren't participating in these kinds of cruel antics, egged on by social media.
The sad part is that there's a legitimate "Orbeez Challenge" about things you can do with Orbeez. Now that title has been hijacked for nefarious reasons.
Here's an example of the bad Orbeez challenge:
As opposed to the fun, innocent Orbeez challenge: