Two Delaware teenagers seen on surveillance video wearing tactical-style vests and carrying what appeared to be rifles while approaching homes late Friday were playing a prank, police said Monday.
New Castle County police identified the 16- and 17-year-old boys Sunday after receiving information that led investigators to the teens following the incidents in the Mallard Pointe neighborhood.
Sgt. Andrea Botterbusch, a spokesperson for the New Castle County Police Department, told News Media that officers arrested both juveniles Sunday evening.
Police searched one of the teenagers’ homes under a warrant and found a gel bead gun, a tactical vest and a hockey-style mask.
A person wearing a black vest and mask was photographed approaching a home’s front door in New Castle’s Mallard Pointe neighborhood. (New Castle County Police)
The two teens face two misdemeanor counts of harassment, one misdemeanor count of criminal mischief and two violations for criminal trespassing.
According to police, the teenagers knocked on residents’ doors late at night as part of a prank that frightened neighbors. Investigators found no evidence that the boys made threats of violence.
Details about the juveniles’ arraignments were not available Monday.
The case began shortly before 11 p.m. Friday, when Mallard Pointe residents reported seeing masked people approaching homes in the New Castle neighborhood.
Images released by police show one person outside a residence wearing a black hockey-style mask and tactical vest while holding an object that resembled a rifle.
Police said a masked person wearing a tactical-style vest and carrying what appeared to be a rifle was captured approaching a home in New Castle, Delaware, on Oct. 9, 2026. (New Castle County Police)
A second image shows another masked person in a black vest walking toward a residence.
Officers responded to the 1200 block of Canvasback Drive around 10:50 p.m. after a resident reported seeing a suspicious person.
Residents told investigators that someone wearing a mask and carrying what looked like a rifle had knocked on several doors before fleeing.
Police said they also spotted four people traveling east along Mallard Road—two on bicycles and two walking.
Police said the two teenagers approached homes in a New Castle, Delaware, neighborhood wearing masks and tactical-style vests and carrying what appeared to be rifles as part of a late-night prank. (iStock)
Officers searched the neighborhood and nearby properties with help from a K-9 unit but did not find the individuals that night.
Investigators initially suspected the objects might have been airsoft-style guns. Police have not confirmed whether the gel bead gun recovered during the search was the same weapon shown in the surveillance footage.
The Delaware incident occurred nearly two months after a man wearing a “Chucky”-style mask was recorded frightening pedestrians roughly 35 miles away in Philadelphia.
Zymire Hughes, 22, was arrested in Las Vegas later that month by members of the U.S. Marshals Service’s Philadelphia office.