Old Lyme ― Fears expressed by state police about the popular Assassins game came to fruition Tuesday morning when two brothers, ages 16 and 17, and wearing camouflage, were spotted on the Lyme-Old Lyme school campus.

The sightings led to 911 calls, multiple officers rushing to the school and the teens being charged with second-degree breach of peace. The unidentified juveniles were issued summonses, released to their father and escorted off the property.

The boys were wearing heavily camouflaged ghillie suits shortly before 7 a.m. as they hid in bushes near the town’s preschool building, according to a police summary of their arrest. The preschool shares the Lyme Street campus with the middle and high school.

Resident State Trooper Matt Weber said the boys were also carrying water guns.

The situation came one week after Weber warned of the dangers of the Assassins game, a tradition across the country in which high school seniors soak assigned targets with toy guns in the lead-up to graduation. School officials in an email to families conveyed the message that lying in wait with water guns could be a “dangerous activity.”

School security was also alerted and joined police in the search for the two individuals, Lyme-Old Lyme School Superintendent Ian Neviaser said in a statement.

Buses transporting students to the middle and high school were held at Big Y and remained there until the two teens were detained and the campus was cleared to safely resume school.

Neviaser confirmed the incident was the result of the student-run Assassins game which is not affiliated with the school.

Weber on Tuesday afternoon said an officer from Old Lyme and four state troopers from the Troop F barracks responded to multiple calls from a panicked community.

“And this is exactly what I was worried about,” Weber said. “I had troopers coming from all over. They were in Westbrook responding. They’re going at high rates of speed to get here, and anything could happen.”

Guidelines for the student-run game shared on social media from past classes show “assassination” attempts are forbidden on school property, at school events, religious buildings, the targets’ places of work or inside their homes.

Multiple 911 calls were fielded by the Connecticut State Police last week from frightened homeowners in Haddam after high school seniors from that town came looking for targets at the wrong address.

Weber said donning camouflage on a school campus was taking the game “to the extreme.”

“Especially in the school, they have zero tolerance for any type of threat,” he said. “It’ll be the same outcome every time. We’re going to take all precautions if we have an unknown threat at the school.”

Neviaser credited emergency protocols in place during the incident.

“Our staff members followed the ‘see something, say something’ concept, our communication within and outside our organization worked as planned, and we were able to safely resolve the situation in coordination with the police,” he said.

He emphasized school officials don’t condone or support participation in the Assassins game.

“Students or other individuals who partake in any part of this activity while on any of our campuses may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including arrest or expulsion from school,” he said.

Weber said police charged the pair with second-degree breach of peace charge due to the “panic and alarm” that resulted.

“Especially since they were warned not to do it,” he said.

The students are scheduled to appear in juvenile court at the end of the month, according to Weber.

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