The ‘No Lackin’ Challenge: Teen shot after viral internet dare goes wrong

A 17-year-old Memphis boy was shot in the head thanks to a viral internet dare.

The “No Lackin’ Challenge” involved friends drawing guns on each other and is based on the slang term “lackin,” which means you aren’t carrying a weapon. The whole point of the “challenge” is to never be “lackin” so that you can be ready for anything.

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But on Thursday, that challenge went horribly wrong for the 17-year-old boy and his friend, 21-year-old Sherman Lackland.

Thomas Fitzpatrick, who was inside the E’s cafe on Union Avenue at the time, recalled what happened when the challenge went sideways.

“A real loud bang, then I see the guy across from him fall in the floor,” Fitzpatrick recalled, according to WMC.

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Fitzpatrick said that after the shot, Lackland was visibly upset.

“He started grabbing him and telling him to get up and then he was kind of mad and was swinging stools and stuff,” Fitzpatrick said.

Police told the Memphis Patch that Lackland did not have a permit to carry the gun, so he will be facing charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a handgun.

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A teenager in trouble

As for the teenager, he remains in critical condition after being shot on the right side of the head.

Terrencio Bell, who was a witness to the shooting and claims to be the victim’s cousin, told local TV station WMC that the 17-year-old has gone in and out of consciousness since the shooting.

“Like right now his brain has swelled up, and it’s bleeding,” he said.

However, Bell said that the shooting was not due to the “No Lackin Challenge” but was instead the result of the fact that Lackland often plays with his gun.

According to USA Today, police have described the challenge as “downright dumb.”