Andrea Alonso, a ninth-grader in North Carolina, was catching up with some classmates at school on Tuesday morning when she suddenly felt an acute pain in her eye. Andrea’s mother, Ana Rosa Alonso, stated she was talking to her classmates at the school door when she felt something hit her.
Andrea contacted Alonso in a panic, and she went to Olympic High School in Charlotte, where she found the school nurse prepared to transport her daughter to the hospital.
“Squishy and smooth, kids and adults alike will love the soothing sensory experience of Orbeez. There’s no limit to the ways you can play. Explode them, squish them, squeeze them, bounce them, crush them or let them flow through your hands! Use your imagination and have endless amounts of fun with Orbeez!” On its website, Spin Master Ltd., the firm of Orbeez, states.
The official description appears to be harmless enough. However, the polymer beads are also at the center of a popular teen social media fad that has resulted in significant accidents across the country. The so-called Orbeez Challenge is filling airguns with the gel-filled pellets and firing them at strangers, which may or may not have originated on TikTok. The videos are then uploaded to platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, where they have amassed millions of views. Cops claim that in some cases, children freeze the beads, making them harder and more dangerous, perhaps resulting in serious eye injuries, puncture wounds, and costly property damage.
Orbeez shootings are happening all over the country, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Claudio Jimenez, who first reported on the incident at Olympic High.
“The police department will be pursuing criminal charges on all persons caught discharging these weapons at other persons on city property. In some cases, it could result in felony charges and parents could also be liable for the actions of their kids,” authorities said in a statement.
Ana Rosa Alonso would want to see something like this happen.
Alonso stated that she is considering ways to pursue more serious criminal charges against Andrea’s assailant.
Andrea’s eye was thankfully saved, according to Alonso.
