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South Metro School Officials Warn Of Dangers Of 'Nerf Wars'

PRIOR LAKE, Minn. (WCCO) -- School officials in Prior Lake are warning parents about the dangers associated with a game played with a Nerf gun.

A Nerf War is when teams of students shoot foam darts to "kill" opponents on other teams in an effort to win prize money. More than 100 Prior Lake students are involved and have now brought the game inside the high school.

"An activity that students were doing outside of school has started to affect the school day," Prior Lake High School assistant principal Joe Kubouskek said.

Kubouskek is talking about a game that involves a Nerf gun, teams and a need to "kill" to win prize money.

Police in Prior Lake and Savage became aware of the Nerf Wars going on with students at the high school after some were caught speeding through neighborhoods looking for others to attack.

"We're worried about the safety of our students and we've heard from local law enforcement about the safety of the community so we worked together to send out a message to families letting them know of what is going on asking for their support in helping to end it," Kubouskek said.

A letter was sent to parents alerting them to the issue.

"We met with all of the students that we know of that are participating in the activity and shared with them our concern. Again, it's really about the safety of everyone that's involved and so that's why we explained to them why we are asking them to end it for their safety as well as everyone else," Kubouskek said.

Kubouskek says the game is typically played outside of the school building but when Nerf Wars began impacting classrooms, he said he knew they had to do something.

"Students are actually starting to skip class and playing the game during the school day off campus," Kubouskek said. "We've had an altercation in our parking lot between two students that was directly related to the Nerf War as well as we're getting reports from the police of reckless driving and other things that are happening in the community."

Nerf Wars is not new to the Twin Cities area. Students have been warned before of the dangers of the game after two Lakeville South students were killed in a rollover crash will playing.

Prior Lake students were playing Nerf Wars to win prize money of more than $3,000.

School officials say they've seen no activity connected to Nerf Wars since the letter was sent to parents.

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