Teen shot over video game

[wraggster]

A 15-year-old Marble Falls boy remains in critical condition at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin with a gunshot wound to the head after what a parent said may have been instigated by a video game called God of War.

Accused of the crime is a 13-year-old Marble Falls youth in custody at the juvenile detention center in Belton and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony, according to the Marble Falls Police Department.

At approximately 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, two youth were visiting the 13-year-old boy at his grandmother's residence, located at 1209 Johnson St., when the 13-year-old decided to retrieve bullets for a gun, which was already out, while the other two boys sat on the couch playing a video game called God of War, according to one of the parents.

Once the boy returned, he loaded the bullets in the .22 caliber pistol, and without saying a word, shot the 15-year-old boy in the head, the parent said

http://www.highlandernews.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=11785

[KingOfHearts]

Instigated by God of War? Is that a parents' idea of condemning video games?
Hope the kid makes it through. = /

[phsychokill]

so because the kids just happen to be playing game that is what caused it? working on that logic i was playing games during the london bombing it must be linked.

[LilSwish722]

I was playing Gran Turismo 3 during 9/11...HOLY CRAP GT3 CAUSED 9/11!

[pibs]

wth god of war doesn't even have pistols in the game, this is just bad parenting.

[BlacknBlue13]

It's just people trying to ruin violence in video games for the rest of us, people always need to blame all their problems on someone else, I mean, this is probably the most ridiculous example of that Ive ever seen! No where in the story is the game and the shooting actually linked but there it is in the title, "Teen Shot Over Video Game", I mean WTF. And I agree with Pibs, this is just bad parenting, I mean this kid's friend is apparently the type that shoots his friends for no reason at his Grandma's house......but video games are obviously the problem.

[Mister Klownes]

Yeah, this is ridiculous. If the game had anything to do with the violence, the kid would've strapped butcher's knives to his arms and tried to chuck them at the other. (sorry if the sarcasm is offensive to anyone...)

Anyhow, every post above me is bang on the money. Stop dodging responsibility and try raising your kids.

[allybert]

wow that's pretty bad whats going on nowadays.. i hope the kid makes it...

but in my opinion .. maybe the kid that shot the other kid felt left out because he couldn't play god of war? or maybe the kids had a fight and didnt allow the other kid to play .... hence the kid got a gun and shot them..

i think that's what the parents mean when they say it's over God of war.. that's just my guess..

but wow. how does a kid get a hold of a gun like that.. ?

[phsychokill]

when the 13-year-old decided to retrieve bullets for a gun, which was already out

now if people kept the guns away from the kids this wouldnt of happend but the fact is because some1 is playing a game at the time doesnt prove anything. other than the kid was either very stupid or nuts and would of done it anyway.

[Stone Temple Pilots]

This is just a case of "Boys will be boys". Seriously, the shooter needs some help. I mean, without saying anything, he shoots the kid in the head? Yeah, sounds like a mental case. Hope the kids pulls through, but in all honesty, it's unusual for people to get back up from a headshot.

[Shilo]

Obviously, the kid has severe problems. The two playing probably won't let him play so he decided to shoot one of them. Seems people now days are always trying to find some new way to say that violent video games are bad.

[Buddy4point0]

so the two at home were playing and a third person came and shot them? how would he have even known they were playing god of war. this has nothing to do with video games. way to fail at figuring out whats up

[malgora]

damn is it just me or are kids getting stupider, and smarter with guns, like said above gow doesnt have guns, hes got like extenable knife thinggys, there is a different, now maybe ifthey were playing somethign loke coded arms or cod or moh, then they coulda put it to the game, i play doom all the time i grow up on it, and i havent shot no1, (damnit die) sorry im alright lol jk. parents jut need a little outside time with there kids i think

MALGORA!

(yes im a bit touchy on games and real life murder.... dont connext the 2)

[mcdougall57]

somethings gotta be up in the first place...

[that1guywiththeface]

Don't you just love how possible cases of mental instability are completely overlooked and video games are the auto-scapegoat? Now, thanks to that little s--t, more people hate video games, a family is likely dropping into deppression, and some poor kid is lying in the emergency room with a bullet in his head. I hope the guy pulls through, but at the least he will likely have serious brain damage. The gunner deserves to have his ass kicked in juvie.

[DarthPaul]

I was supposed to play basketball with my friends last week.

But then, an exam was announced for the same day, so I couldn't go and play with them. Now, one of my friends is mad at me because of this. Studies cause problems with your friends! DON'T STUDY!!!

[Joe88]

its texax
everyone has a gun

[Ultima Chocochu]

Poor kid, hope he makes it
I don't know exactly they're trying to insinuate about the game though
Are they saying that GOW, from playing, caused the kid to do it?
Cause there are no guns in it from what I know
And if not that, are they saying it's because he wanted to play?
Either way, the reasons are moronic.

[bah]

I googled and found this (I set the years to 2000 to 2005, 2005 being the most recent year they list, the rest of the options at their defaults): http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus10.html

According to that, for the age group 15-24 (both genders, all races), homicide is the 2nd largest cause of death, of which 81.3% are firearm related.

While I'm not sure how homicide (gun related or not) ranks in other countries, it certainly does seem that Americans like shooting each other. The videogame connection in this incident seems much less worthy of discussion than the level of gun violence that is prevalent throughout the society and what can be done about it.


Don't worry, if you make it to 25-34 your more likely to kill yourself than be killed, by 35-44 then cancer, heart disease, aids and killing yourself are all more likely.
Death statistics: always depressing.

[Avenyet]

that kid is seriously twisted by the sound of thing he wasn't even playing the game and had no interest in it so how could they possibly be linked. maybe just maybe the sound from GOW caused him to go insane and kill people.

emmm its kind of saying that walking past cinema that has its fire door open playing a horror movie will cause someone to go on a killing spree

[JKKDARK]

lol this 13 years old kid is crazy

[dejkirkby]

As soon as I read he lived at his grandmother's house, I sensed he was messed up.

[Sonicboy 101]

The parent doesn't want to accept the fact that it's their fault. Instead, the blame is shifted to games.
Pathetic.

[Dbgtgoten]

its ****ed up it was said here that the gun was already out perhaps the stupid psycho kid was like oh look how cool my gun is and the kids were like yea w/e and playing GOW then the kid got pissed and said i will show you how cool it is cause he went to get the bullets it states and shot him thats my thoughts about it freakin stupid tho

[mike_jmg]

Obviously, the kid has severe problems. The two playing probably won't let him play so he decided to shoot one of them. Seems people now days are always trying to find some new way to say that violent video games are bad.

Yeah the kid has severe problems, and probably the other two should've been threatening and bothering him on telling his parents about the game and that he shouldn't be playing it in the first place. But then again how in hell is that a reason to shoot someone in the head:eek:?

[devdj]

this is really pissing me off that there blaming video games over violent behavior in prepubescent teens its the government and the parents fault for letting the kids play around with guns and shit , i never would blame video games or movies for violent behavior the thing is with this young generation 13 - 17 year olds is that they will probably end up dead before me and I'm 21 years old.

[Nocuddle]

Made in America.

Where the fuk is Jack Thompson! ^_^

One boy 15, another 13. GOW US region rated Mature 17+.
A gun stored in the house & a 13 yrs old kid can easily get it.
Nah, nothing wrong here...

Kid 13: i wanna see the twin jiggy jiggy s3x red orbs part!!
Kid 15: no, you are too young.
Kid 13: screw you, am gonna shoot you between your eyes.
Mommy: Kratos got a big gun under his pant.

Again, only Made in America. Where everything broken easily.

[LilSwish722]

Lmao. "Mommy: Kratos got a big gun under his pant." That's great. But there is nothing that said this incident was related to GoW. Just that they were playing it when it happened.

[Gene]

This is 100% Child neglect, and bearing a firearm is the responsibility of an an adult, and that includes proper locks, safes, and storage containers that keep children out. A simple lock would have prevented this entire situation. Leave patterns of 1's and 0's out of this. The parents bear all responsibility.

[wolfpack]

child finding gun has nothing to do with god of war, maybe point and click adventure games :p only kidding

[LilSwish722]

Haha. Diablo II is a point and click adventure game that'd make him do that :P

[maxipower90]

i lol at these things.

1 there isnt even pistols in God of war if im correct and
2 it took place in America were you can buy shops so whose to blame

ban the guns = stop the killing. really now what purpose does civilians have owning guns. farmers may need them for poachers but thats it

[that1guywiththeface]

to the above poster:

ban all guns = stop the killing

WRONG!!!!!!

All that would do is switch the weapons to illegally obtained/owned firearms and knives. Also, I don't know what country you're from, but the Amercian Bill of Rights clearly states that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed.

In layman's terms, nobody's gonna take my gun from me unless I become a felon.

Violence will always be here(unfortunatley), but the ways it is done will continue to change.

[wind_mill]

1. Parents should have kept the gun secure and out of the reach of the teenager.

2. Unless the kid fashioned some blades of chaos with some kitchen knives and chains, God of War cannot be blamed at all.

3. He should not have been playing God Of War in the first place.

4.
when the 13-year-old decided to retrieve bullets for a gun, which was already out Apparently the kid knew how to load a gun. he could not have picked this up from a game with an absence of firearms.


Its sad to see that video games are continually blamed for real world violence.

[darkness angel 777]

he shouldn't have been playing that game in the first place its
rated mature for a reason.MATURE people play these games.

[Broadus]

It's terrible that some crazy kid shot another kid for no reason, and hopefully the kid who got shot can recover, but it's obvious that the video game had nothing to do with anything.
What did the other boy on the couch do? How come he didn't get shot? Not that it's a bad thing that he didn't.
And who left the gun out?

[Eviltaco64]

What does God of War have to do with guns?

[fg-54]

God of War? Hate to break it to you, but GoW has no guns. Sad attempt.

[Turbolence]

Amazing. News bias will make the story sound however they want it to sound.

A more neutral article on the issue:
http://www.kxan.com/global/story.asp?s=8016717

I can't believe that people are still trying to pawn off bad parenting and lack of responsibility on video games. Anger, aggression, violence, these are NOT things that video games create. It's the atmosphere a kid is in. Also, if you read that article, note how the shooter asked the other kid to take the victim's body and dump it in a barrel out back (7th paragraph). Clearly something was very wrong with this boy from the start.

[djbrotherson]

F'D

Once again, parents fault