Two teenagers caught on camera wearing tactical vests and carrying what seemed to be guns as they approached homes in a Delaware neighborhood late Friday night were playing a prank, authorities said Monday.
The 16- and 17-year-old boys were identified Sunday after New Castle County police received information that assisted investigators in locating them following the interactions in the Mallard Pointe area.
Sgt. Andrea Botterbusch, spokesman for the New Castle County Police Department, verified to Fox News Digital that officers apprehended the juveniles on Sunday evening.
During the inquiry, officers conducted a search warrant at one of the teens’ residences, discovering a gel bead gun, tactical vest, and hockey-style mask.
Both adolescents were charged with two misdemeanor counts of harassment, one misdemeanor count of criminal mischief, and two criminal trespassing charges.
Police discovered that the youngsters had been knocking on people’ doors late at night as part of a hoax that worried neighbors, but no threats of violence were made.
Both juveniles’ arraignment information was awaited on Monday.
The inquiry began after residents in New Castle’s Mallard Pointe area reported seeing masked individuals approaching homes soon before 11 p.m. on Friday.
Police surveillance photographs show one person wearing a black hockey mask and a tactical vest while holding what looks to be a rifle outside the front door of a property.
Another masked man wearing a black vest is seen approaching a house in a separate photograph.
Officers were dispatched to the 1200 block of Canvasback Drive at 10:50 p.m. on a complaint of a suspicious person.
Residents informed detectives that a masked individual carrying what seemed to be a firearm knocked on doors before fleeing.
Police also reported sighting four people walking east on Mallard Road, two on bicycles and two on foot.
Officers investigated the neighborhood and adjacent properties with the help of a K-9 unit but were unable to find the people.
Investigators first suspected the purported weapons were airsoft-style guns, but police have yet to determine whether the discovered gel bead gun was the same weapon seen in surveillance photographs.
The incident occurred nearly two months after a man wearing a “Chucky”-style mask was recorded on tape scaring people 35 miles away in Philadelphia.
Zymire Hughes, 22, was apprehended in Las Vegas later that month by personnel of the United States Marshals Service’s Philadelphia division.
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