Post by cenydd on Aug 26, 2013 13:00:14 GMT
An 8-year-old Louisiana boy intentionally shot and killed his elderly caregiver after playing a violent video game, authorities say.
Marie Smothers was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head in a mobile home park in Slaughter, Louisiana, the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Department said in a prepared statement. Slaughter is about 20 miles north of Baton Rouge.
Authorities identified the woman as the boy's "caregiver," without stating whether she is a relative. But CNN affiliate WBRZ reported that the woman was the boy's grandmother.
Smothers was 87, public records show.
"By accounts of relatives of the victim, as well as friends of the family, the victim and the juvenile had a normal, loving, relationship and even shared the same bedroom," the sheriff's department said.
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While the motive is unclear, the sheriff's department implied the child's activities in a violent virtual world may have led to the killing.
"Although a motive for the shooting is unknown at this time investigators have learned that the juvenile suspect was playing a video game on the Play Station III 'Grand Theft Auto IV,' a realistic game that has been associated with encouraging violence and awards points to players for killing people, just minutes before the homicide occurred."
The game's maker, Take Two Interactive, rejected the link.
Marie Smothers was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head in a mobile home park in Slaughter, Louisiana, the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Department said in a prepared statement. Slaughter is about 20 miles north of Baton Rouge.
Authorities identified the woman as the boy's "caregiver," without stating whether she is a relative. But CNN affiliate WBRZ reported that the woman was the boy's grandmother.
Smothers was 87, public records show.
"By accounts of relatives of the victim, as well as friends of the family, the victim and the juvenile had a normal, loving, relationship and even shared the same bedroom," the sheriff's department said.
....................................
While the motive is unclear, the sheriff's department implied the child's activities in a violent virtual world may have led to the killing.
"Although a motive for the shooting is unknown at this time investigators have learned that the juvenile suspect was playing a video game on the Play Station III 'Grand Theft Auto IV,' a realistic game that has been associated with encouraging violence and awards points to players for killing people, just minutes before the homicide occurred."
The game's maker, Take Two Interactive, rejected the link.
edition.cnn.com/2013/08/25/us/louisiana-boy-kills-grandmother
So was there really a link with the violent video game? Should the gun have been placed somewhere a little more secure, so that an 8 year old kid could get hold of it? Seems like a lot of questions to be asked about this one.
