INDIANAPOLIS — There's a new viral trend that has police and parents on edge.
If you search "Orbeez" or "splatter ball" on TikTok or YouTube, you'll scroll through thousands of videos showing the creative ways people are using the brands of absorbent gel beads, from crafts to DIY projects.
Search "Orbeez Challenge" and you'll likely find the types of videos that are concerning to police, as well as one Fishers mom.
Rani Delgado showed 13News photos of the multiple dime-sized bumps and bruises she saw on her daughter's legs when she picked her up from a Fishers park last week.
Delgado's daughter, who is 13, said she was playing in the park when other teens starting shooting toy guns loaded with the gel beads in her direction.
"I asked her, 'Why?' She said, 'Well, they think it was fun,'" Delgado said.
Delgado's daughter wasn't badly hurt, though it was alarming enough for her mother to now share this warning: "This is not Nerf. This is not a water gun. This is something that could hurt someone," Delgado said.
By themselves, the beads are pretty harmless. They're soft and squishy, and expand in water.
The problem, however, is that many are freezing the beads to make them harder before shooting them out of an airsoft gun at unsuspecting people. Some have even spray painted or modified the toys to look like real guns.
"They definitely risk the police misinterpreting their actions, what they're holding," Delgado said.
In more serious cases, four Pennsylvania teens are facing charges after firing the pellets at students and faculty at a middle school. In Georgia, an 8-year-old and 10-year-old were injured after getting hit in the abdomen and face.
Police across the country are issuing warnings of the serious injuries and charges that this challenge can bring.
"Children have been arrested, charged with assault," Delgado said, though she isn't pressing charges after her daughter's incident. She's now adamant about warning other parents to have a chat about using the product responsibly.