WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Spring break is just around the corner, and some Warner Robins High School students are already starting their end-of-the-school-year-pranks.
We went to Warner Robins to see what they're doing and spoke with a couple who is worried about their neighbors safety.
Warner Robins is home for Pat and Patsy Pepper. They moved into their neighborhood 13 years ago.
Patsy said, "I love the peacefulness. I love the neighbors that have just recently moved in with their two little children."
Usually it is quiet, but the past two Fridays, they watched 20 teenagers take over their cul-de-sac.
"I noticed something off to my right, and then I figured it out. It was a paint gun in the kids' hands," Pat said.
During this time of year, there is a tradition in Houston County called "junior-senior wars."
Sergeant Eric Gossman with the Warner Robins Police Department said, "They tend to have pranks on each other and sometimes they can get out of hand."
Gossman says large groups of kids use a paintball, nerf, or airsoft-type guns as tools for a "goofy type of battle."
"Junior-senior wars, while it seems like a good idea to the high-schoolers, it can lead to something that could get them into serious trouble that could affect them. It could affect them if they're looking at college, it might affect their scholarships or admissions or it might get them into some legal trouble," Gossman said.
Patsy said, "Who's to say they won't bring the real guns? Even with these pretend guns, paintballs, they are just as dangerous as the real ones. We're concerned about the kids in the neighborhood also -- their safety and the older people! Who's to say that one older person wouldn't have walked out of their house and got hit by a paintball and end up in the ICU."
Gossman says before paintball guns, high school pranks involved eggs and toilet paper.
Patsy said, "Parents need to look at their children, be more aware of where they are at, and take care of them."
Nobody's been hurt and nothing's been damaged in their neighborhood, but they hope more people will become aware of this prank and help keep the community safe.
In the state of Georgia, police can charge someone with criminal trespassing or criminal damage property if something is damaged permanently by a paintball gun.