A New York City teenager with an “Orbeez” gun used in viral TikTok challenges was shot and killed by an off-duty corrections officer early Thursday morning. Police are now investigating whether the toy gun played a role in the fatal encounter, as it has in others.
Around 1:35 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a 911 call reporting a male shot in Morris Heights in the Bronx. When officers arrived, they found 18-year-old Raymond Chaluisant with a gunshot wound to his face and unresponsive about a half-mile from where the shooting reportedly took place. Police also found a toy gun filled with “orbeez” near the scene of his death, according to multiple news outlets.
Chaluisant was rushed to the local hospital by EMS, where he was pronounced dead.
Police are looking into whether the toy gun led to the shooting, NYPD investigators said, according to the Washington Post, though there is currently no evidence that the teen aimed or fired it at the person who shot him. The challenge is a typically harmless prank where someone fires tiny, water-filled beads often called “orbeez” from a toy air rifle.
Police told VICE News they later arrested 45-year-old Dion Middleton, a New York City corrections officer, who was off-duty at the time of the shooting. Middleton has been charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon.
He’s also been suspended from his job at New York City Corrections without pay, multiple news outlets have reported.
Since the trend started earlier this summer, police departments around the country have warned parents about the dangers of the #OrbeezChallenge and implored people to not participate. Some TikTokers have even been arrested.
The challenges can turn deadly. Just last month in Akron, Ohio, 17-year-old Ethan Liming was allegedly beaten to death after he and three of his friends fired orbeez at four people on a basketball court who confronted them.
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And in Salt Lake City, Utah, a group of teens said someone fired a real gun at them after they confronted the stranger about firing orbeez at them earlier that day.
On Thursday, just hours after Chaluisant was killed, the NYPD sent out a tweet reminding people the guns are illegal in New York.
“Bead Blasters shoot gel water beads propelled by a spring-loaded air pump, making them an air rifle,” the NYPD Twitter account shared. “Air rifles are a violation in NYC & are unlawful to possess.”
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