Are you armed? 'Knockout' thugs begin checking

 

The “knockout game” has become a nationwide menace in which roaming mobs  randomly select victims and without warning hit them as hard as they can in an attempt to knock them out.

But there’s a new twist now, with attackers checking their victims first to find out whether they are armed.

The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville reported a witness called police claiming she saw a male juvenile punch a man in the face, “apparently without provocation.”

The victim, who told police he believed the boys were playing the knockout game, said  one of the boys approached him and asked if he had a “Glock.” The man was punched after admitting he was unarmed, the paper said.

Four juveniles were arrested.

But the report said the victim wised up quickly.

“Fearing that the boy would continue to hit him until he was unconscious, the man grabbed at a folding knife that he had tucked into his waistband and pretended to have a gun. The boys fled, and the man enlisted the help of his neighbor to search for the boys.”