Lakeshore HS freshman injured playing ‘ISIS Game’

STEVENSVILLE, Mich. -- Students call it the “ISIS Game.” And now a Lakeshore High School freshman is recovering after being cut with a knife – on school grounds – while pretending to be beheaded.

It happened last Wednesday afternoon.

Football practice at Lakeshore High School in Stevensville had just ended when a locker room game took a turn for the worse.

A Lincoln Township Police report says two freshmen football players began playing – what they call – the “ISIS Game.”

The report explains the game like this:

“Where an individual comes up behind [someone], puts that individual in a headlock and yells at him stating ‘do you have family, do you have loved ones?’ And then makes a motion across their neck in a cutting motion pretending to cut the individual’s head off.”

The report says the student performing the headlock was holding a knife in his free hand, and as the student in the headlock started to fidget, he cut his left hand on the knife.

Police say the boys stopped the game once they saw blood. They immediately went to their coach.

The freshman who was cut ended up having a severed nerve in his hand and needed almost six hours of surgery.

Police interviewed everyone involved and concluded there was ‘no intent’ to cause an injury.

The report says the incident isn’t criminal and is just a ‘reckless action.’

The report also says the student who had the knife, which was an X-acto knife, found it in the school parking lot about a week before this whole ordeal.

The student kept the knife in his locker. He then, for some reason, decided to use it during the game last Wednesday.

The principal of Lakeshore High School and the superintendent of the district said Monday they could not comment on anything related to this incident because it is still under investigation.

Because the district wouldn’t comment Monday, it is still unknown if parents were told about this incident; if school leaders knew about the “ISIS Game” before this incident happened; or if the student with the knife is being punished at all.

The police report says the victim and the student with the knife were friendly with each other.

The report also says the students had played the “ISIS Game” before this incident, without any physical weapons.

The victim’s family attorney said Monday that the victim’s surgery went well, and they’re now waiting to find out if his hand will be able to fully function again.

The attorney said the family is considering legal action against the district for negligence, since the knife was on school property for so long.

ABC57 reached out to several school districts in Michiana – including St. Joseph Public Schools, Berrien Springs Public Schools, Buchanan Public Schools, Niles Community Schools, School City of Mishawaka, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation and South Bend Community School Corporation – to see if any of their students are playing the “ISIS Game.”

So far, two districts have said they’ve never heard of it. We are waiting to hear back from the rest.