Teen Hit with Felony Charges Over Water Gun

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]An 18-year-old high school senior in Indiana waited outside a Planet Fitness with a water gun in an annual game of Senior Assassin. Now he's facing felony charges due to people calling 911 and reporting an active shooter.

[00:00:20]Hello everyone and welcome back to the channel. A lot of high schools enjoy a last man standing tradition of the senior class shooting each other with water guns until one student wins. Oddly enough, my high school never played it, but my college did and also had a similar annual game we called Humans versus Zombies. In some versions, you get the name of your intended target and do anything you can do to get them. In other words, it's a week-long free-for-all, and you're just designated by what colors you wear. It's all meant in good fun, but sometimes people face real world consequences, even getting shot at, because someone somewhere thinks they're walking around with a real gun, especially when the kids are lurking around in the middle of the night waiting for their targets or pop out of trash cans or whatever. For Adrien Williams, that consequence is felony charges. He ended up with more than a dozen police officers pointing guns at him, spent three days in jail, and now claims police used excessive force in his arrest. Police say they were responding to multiple calls about an active shooter, others about an armed person with an extended magazine and feared for their lives. Since school was in session, they thought it was a real threat. Now, before we jump into this one, this video is brought to you by Blackout Coffee Company. As I get closer and closer to Liberty Baby 2.0 making his debut, I'm getting less and less sleep and relying more and more on Blackout every morning. Blackout is a Florida based coffee roaster that has strong roots in supporting Second Amendment rights and traditional values.

[00:01:54]They support channels like mine and have dedicated partner roast that raise money for GOA and FPC and the Second Amendment Foundation. So, I know that my money is going to defending my rights. So, to get a cup of coffee that you can be proud of and help the channel, go to blackout coffee.com/lbertydoll and you can use code liberty doll for a onetime 20% discount. Back to this story out of Portage, Indiana. Adrien Williams was playing senior assassin and decided to post up outside of Planet Fitness to wait for his friends and classmates. He had a water gun that he' bought from Tik Tok and was hoping to snag his target.

[00:02:33]Callers reported that Williams was attempting to hide himself, had a gun he kept putting in his pocket and pulling back out, and at one point reported he'd entered the gym holding the gun. 10 onduty Portage police officers, two offduty officers, and an onduty Porter County Sheriff's deputy rushed to the Planet Fitness. There, they found Williams in his car with a toy gun.

[00:02:56]According to the officers, they too thought it was a real gun until they got within a few feet of the car. Typically, when people play, at least back in my day, you used obvious brightly colored Nerf style super soers. For what it's worth, Adrian here did not. Here are some photos that the Portage police released of the water gun from their body cams. According to reports, once he saw the cops and saw they all had their guns trained on him, he started yelling that he was part of the game and that it was a water gun. Frankly, I am amazed he did not get shot. He was arrested on felony intimidation charges and spent three nights in jail. Now, was the realistic looking gun a bad idea?

[00:03:39]Absolutely. If you're creeping around a public place with a black toy that looks like a pistol, people are going to freak out. Is it worth the felony intimidation charges on that? I'm not sure. Here's what the law says. This is from Indiana Code Title 35, Criminal Law and Procedure Article 45. specifically about intimidation. Section one, a a person who communicates a threat with the intent, one, that another person engage in conduct against the other person's will. Two, that another person be placed in fear of retaliation for a prior lawful act. three of A causing one a dwelling, a building or other structure or two a vehicle to be evacuated or B interfering with the occupancy of one a dwelling, building or other structure or two a vehicle or four that another person be placed in fear that the threat will be carried out if the threat is a threat described in A subsection C1 through C5 or B subsection C7 through C8 commits intimidation a class A misdemeanor. B. However, the offense is a one level six felony if A the threat is to commit a forcable felony. B the subject of the threat or the person to whom the threat is communicated is a witness or the spouse or child of a witness in any pending criminal proceeding against the person making the threat. C. The threat is communicated because of the occupation, profession, employment status, or ownership status of a person or the threat relates to or is made in connection with the occupation, profession, employment status, or ownership status of a person.

[00:05:22]D, the person has a prior unrelated conviction for an offense under this section concerning the same victim. Or E, the threat is communicated using property, including electronic equipment or systems, of a school, corporation, or other governmental entity. and two level five felony if a while committing it the person draws or uses a deadly weapon b the subject of the threat or the person to whom the threat is communicated one is a judicial officer or baiff of any court or two is a prosecuting attorney or a deputy prosecuting attorney and the threat relates to the person's status as a judicial officer baiff prosecuting attorney or deputy prosecuting attorney or is made in connection with the official duties of the judicial officer baiff prosecuting attorney or deputy prosecuting attorney or C the threat is one to commit terrorism or two made in furtherance of an act of terrorism. C threat means an expression by words or action of an intention to one unlawfully injure the person threatened or another person or damaged property. Two unlawfully subject a person to physical confinement or restraint. Three commit a crime. Four, unlawfully withhold official action or cause such withholding. Five, unlawfully withhold testimony or information with respect to another person's legal claim or defense except for a reasonable claim for witness fees or expenses. Six, expose the person threatened to hatred, contempt, disgrace, or ridicule. Seven, falsely harm the credit or business reputation of a person. Or eight, cause the evacuation of a dwelling, a building, another structure, or a vehicle. For purposes of this subdivision, the term includes an expression that would cause a reasonable person to consider the evacuation of a dwelling, a building, another structure, or a vehicle, even if the dwelling building, structure, or vehicle is not evacuated. As far as we know, he never communicated any threats and the building wasn't evacuated. You could argue that section one fits, that he interfered with the occupancy of the building, maybe, but even that one falls under misdemeanor, not a felony. The police have not released any information about him actually making any threats, nor did he have an actual deadly weapon.

[00:07:37]The felony definitions require threats communicated against specific targets that are, say, witnesses in a trial or a judge or targeting because of their job or something like that. We do have a partial definition that would require only a reasonable person would consider evacuating a building, but that is one of the requirements under the subsection about a threat made in furtherance of an act of terrorism. But according to other people involved, Williams did in fact enter the Planet Fitness to ask permission at the desk to wait inside the building to try to get his target out. They told him no and told him to go wait outside. So, the business itself didn't feel threatened. You could argue misdemeanor brandishing maybe, but even then, Indiana law requires it to be a real loaded gun pointed at another person.

[00:08:30]So, either something major has been left out of the news reports and the press releases from the police or this was a big overreaction as far as charges go.

[00:08:43]Here is the official police statement.

[00:08:45]On Friday, April 10th, at approximately 1:21 PM, officers of the Portage Police Department were dispatched to the Planet Fitness located at 6221 US Highway 6. A 911 caller reported a man outside of the business appeared to be waiting for someone to come out and was armed with a handgun. The suspect was described as nervous and hiding himself by the front door. Below are some examples of the radio traffic sent to responding units based upon the 911 caller's description of the event he was observing. He just put it in his waistband and pulled it out again. Referring to the gun. He was hiding himself. He was putting it in his pocket and kept pulling it back out.

[00:09:23]Firearm is gray with an extended magazine. Acting like he is nervous.

[00:09:26]Referring to the suspect. He's peeking around the corner like he's waiting for someone. Subject is outside with a gun in his right hand. Ma's walking inside with the gun in his right hand. He just has it out in the open. He's definitely waiting for someone to come out. 911 caller to dispatchers. This incident resulted in all 10 onduty PPD patrol officers, two off-duty PPD officers, and one onduty Porter County Sheriff's deputy responding to the scene. These officers responded with their emergency lights and sirens activated from across the city as they believed this was an imminent active shooter situation. This emergency response put the officers and the community at unnecessary risk, as well as delayed responses to three other calls for service occurring simultaneously in the city. I don't know how a water gun put the officers at risk, but okay. As the first officers arrived, they located the suspect identified as Adrien Williams, 18 years of age, as he was seated in his vehicle.

[00:10:25]Mr. Williams was detained and spontaneously uttered that he was playing senior assassin. An apparent firearm was visible in the passenger compartment of the vehicle that turned out to be a water gun. The officer noted in his report that the water gun appeared to be a genuine firearm until he was within a few feet of it. Pictures shown of the water gun is captured on bodywn camera. Officers were aware that the senior assassin game was being played, but since this 911 call occurred during school hours, they had even more reason to believe this event was a genuine emergency. It is unknown why the suspect and his intended target were not in school as this occurred prior to dismissal. A patrol supervisor contacted the Porter County Prosecutor's Office and briefed them on the situation. A deputy prosecutor authorized the charge of felony intimidation and Mr. Williams was transported to the Porter County Jail. We understand that this game has been played by high school seniors in our area for a few years and this appears to have become a tradition.

[00:11:22]Unfortunately, we have previously had to respond to reports of reckless driving, road rage, and carjacking which were also associated with this game. We have also viewed several online videos of our PHS seniors engaging in this game using brightly colored water guns that do not give the appearance of actual firearms did not involve reckless driving or other dangerous behavior that resulted in only creating great memories.

[00:11:45]Unfortunately, there are outliers who have caused fear and panic to our community by their actions. It is ultimately the duty of the young adults who engage in this game to conduct themselves in a safe, lawful manner that does not cause fear and panic within our community. Williams has no previous criminal record, is a football star, and reportedly has a scholarship to college that is now in jeopardy. Let me know your thoughts on this one down in the comments. On the police's Facebook page, it's mostly people congratulating the police, thanking them for handling it the way they did, and agreeing with the charges. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's it for this video. You guys know the drill for all of the algorithm things. Please do them. And as always, thanks for tuning in. Stay safe out there and happy shooting.