Authorities Blame Games for Sword Attack
Police are pointing to a dispute over videogames as the motivation behind a teen's fatal attack on his great-grandmother.
A 14-year-old boy described by his neighbors as "kind of shy," has slain his great-grandmother and wounded his grandmother with a large medieval-style sword in Georgia. Police arrived at his home soon after the violence occurred to find the teenaged killer pacing across his front lawn beside the body with a pellet gun in one hand and his murder weapon in the other. What could have caused such a grisly scene? According to witnesses, his 77-year-old great-grandmother had asked him to turn off a videogame. Sigh.
Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller was one of the first policemen on the scene, and boy was he in for a surprise when he stepped out of his squad car. "He came out with a pellet gun and shot two windows out of a patrol car that was sitting there. He was shooting at us with the pellet gun and swinging the sword around in the air," Miller said. "We sent a K-9 unit in and he hit the K-9 with the butt of his gun. At that point, we tased him, then took him into custody."
Then again, maybe Miller shouldn't have been surprised after all. According to police investigators, this was the third, yes third, time this 14-year-old has been arrested, and the second time the arrest has involved a sword and his grandma. When asked about the first, Miller said, "This is not the same sword. He cut his grandmother on the foot with it that time."
So, wait a second. This was a different sword than the one he used to stab his grandmother's foot? Does that mean that someone actually thought this kid needed more than one sword? More importantly, does that mean that after the first round of sword versus grandmother took place, he was still allowed to keep them? There seems to be quite a bit wrong with how this tragedy went down, and though the absolute last thing that comes to my mind as a cause is "videogames," I'm sure that some group of blockheads can't wait to file this story under "P" for "proof that videogames cause violent behavior." Aren't videogames prevalent enough these days to finally be considered more of a coincidence than a cause?
Don't get me wrong; the real tragedy is this poor woman's untimely death. To live through so much history only to be skewered by the progeny of your offspring's offspring is downright heartbreaking. I just hope this deranged teenager didn't also help fuel the seemingly never-ending anti-videogame blame-game.
Source: New York Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/08/16/2011-08-16_14yearold_slays_greatgrandmother_with_sword_stabs_grandmother_over_video_game_di.html?r=news]
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Police are pointing to a dispute over videogames as the motivation behind a teen's fatal attack on his great-grandmother.
A 14-year-old boy described by his neighbors as "kind of shy," has slain his great-grandmother and wounded his grandmother with a large medieval-style sword in Georgia. Police arrived at his home soon after the violence occurred to find the teenaged killer pacing across his front lawn beside the body with a pellet gun in one hand and his murder weapon in the other. What could have caused such a grisly scene? According to witnesses, his 77-year-old great-grandmother had asked him to turn off a videogame. Sigh.
Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller was one of the first policemen on the scene, and boy was he in for a surprise when he stepped out of his squad car. "He came out with a pellet gun and shot two windows out of a patrol car that was sitting there. He was shooting at us with the pellet gun and swinging the sword around in the air," Miller said. "We sent a K-9 unit in and he hit the K-9 with the butt of his gun. At that point, we tased him, then took him into custody."
Then again, maybe Miller shouldn't have been surprised after all. According to police investigators, this was the third, yes third, time this 14-year-old has been arrested, and the second time the arrest has involved a sword and his grandma. When asked about the first, Miller said, "This is not the same sword. He cut his grandmother on the foot with it that time."
So, wait a second. This was a different sword than the one he used to stab his grandmother's foot? Does that mean that someone actually thought this kid needed more than one sword? More importantly, does that mean that after the first round of sword versus grandmother took place, he was still allowed to keep them? There seems to be quite a bit wrong with how this tragedy went down, and though the absolute last thing that comes to my mind as a cause is "videogames," I'm sure that some group of blockheads can't wait to file this story under "P" for "proof that videogames cause violent behavior." Aren't videogames prevalent enough these days to finally be considered more of a coincidence than a cause?
Don't get me wrong; the real tragedy is this poor woman's untimely death. To live through so much history only to be skewered by the progeny of your offspring's offspring is downright heartbreaking. I just hope this deranged teenager didn't also help fuel the seemingly never-ending anti-videogame blame-game.
Source: New York Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/08/16/2011-08-16_14yearold_slays_greatgrandmother_with_sword_stabs_grandmother_over_video_game_di.html?r=news]
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