14 year old shoots parents, blames video games

[Shinsei-J]

It ain't the games fault because,

Spoiler: THAT BOY NEEDS THERAPY.

He's a nut, as crazy as a coconut.

 

[flarty]

I usually hate the armchair psychologists cries of "he must have been crazy" shocking crimes tend to bring out, but if the "hearing in his head" bit is correct, and not mere hyperbole, then it would seem to be justified this time.

I'm lost. Are you trying to insinuate that someone shooting their parents for removing their video games could possibly be completely of sound mind?

 

[Excludos]

Anyone who tries to kill their own parents, where the parents are assumed to be regular, non-abusive people, is in need of psychiatric care regardless of videogames.

But you know what the elephant in the motherf***ing room is? HE SHOT THEM WITH A GUN HE HAD ACCESS TO.

AT 14.

In my opinion, all the blame videogames have been getting - ESPECIALLY in response to the massacre - has been a diversion strategy for the gun lobby. Because guns are sort of the logical place to look when this sort of thing occurs.

Was thinking the exact same thing. They knew he was ill, they had set up a surveillance system for him after all..and they couldn't be bothered to lock up their gun properly?! This is why US desperately needs stricter gun control.

Reading comprehension are hard

Brooks allegedly pried open his parents' gun safe and took out a .22 caliber pistol, according to iFiber One News. Brooks reportedly told police he then spent 90 minutes weighing whether or not to kill his mother and father.

>Parents secure gun
>PARENTS CANT BE BOTHERED TO LOCK UP GUN! US NEEDS MOAR GUNZ CONTROL!

Seems more like someone needs to read articles more closely

Yeah, reading IS hard. Thats probably why you skipped the word "properly" I put in there. Hold on, let me look that up for you:

"correctly, rightly, fittingly, appropriately, legitimately, accurately, suitably, aptly, deservedly, as intended, in the true sense, in the accepted or approved manner The debate needs to be conducted properly.
correctly wrongly, incorrectly, improperly, inappropriately, inaccurately, unsuitably, inaptly, unfittingly"

No way a 14 year old would be able to pry open a PROPER gun safe. This is a complete lack of responsibility from the parents, and PROPER gun control would help that (IE: require training, require PROPER gun safes, hold the owner reliable for theft (even by their own kids) and what the guns are used for by the thief). In fact, in most countries, if one of the parents had died from this, the other parent would have been put up for indirect murder for failing to uphold proper gun standards.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I usually hate the armchair psychologists cries of "he must have been crazy" shocking crimes tend to bring out, but if the "hearing in his head" bit is correct, and not mere hyperbole, then it would seem to be justified this time.

I'm lost. Are you trying to insinuate that someone shooting their parents for removing their video games could possibly be completely of sound mind?

No, just that that seems to be the default response whatever the circumstances.

No way a 14 year old would be able to pry open a PROPER gun safe. This is a complete lack of responsibility from the parents, and PROPER gun control would help that (IE: require training, require PROPER gun safes, hold the owner reliable for theft (even by their own kids) and what the guns are used for by the thief). In fact, in most countries, if one of the parents had died from this, the other parent would have been put up for indirect murder for failing to uphold proper gun standards.

Pried open is very dodgy, yeah. OTOH, I'd not be too surprised if he simply unlocked it. There's no foolproof way of ensuring people in your house don't get at the guns you keep there. They are going to find out where you keep the keys.

Now, storing it somewhere secure away from the house is a different matter, of course.

 

[lunavixen]

If the kid was genuinely hearing voices, he may have some form of mental illness that has gone untreated for years, it is not the fault of the games. He's showing signs of premeditation, which means he knows what he's doing and trying to use video games as a scapegoat.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

(facepalm) Why didn't this kid get help? Seriously, this seems like the kind of kid with serious freaking issues!

 

[generals3]

(facepalm) Why didn't this kid get help? Seriously, this seems like the kind of kid with serious freaking issues!

That's because it's hard to assess how fucked up someone truly is. As an example we have a nuttbag whos trial is currently running (he killed infants in a daycare center) and it was revealed the parents did send him to therapy when he was a teen because they noticed something was wrong but unfortunately he didn't cooperate in therapy and as such the psychiatrist involved couldn't properly assess how messed up he was.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

seems like he needs a prescription of high dose oral lead ...

I can't help but notice that the article said the kid pried open his dad's gun safe.
Uh...
Assuming they aren't just substituting the word "unlocked" with something more spicy, someone with a gun safe, tell me: Exactly how easy is it to physically PRY open of these open?

yeah i'm thinking that's poor word placement...more like "lockbox"

a fucking safe uses the word "safe" for a reason...plasma cutters or some sort of bulldozer is needed to "pry" open a safe, unless this kid is solomon grundy

OT: kids a psychopath plain and simple, using video games as the scapegoat will get him off easy.

also, if they hooked up a damn surveillence system, you'd think the dad would have a thought along the lines of "hm..maybe i should keep my gun(s) in a guaranteed safe place that he can't get to them without me knowing"

but then he probably heard that obama wants to take his guns away and he was like "nope, i'll keep them close. they should try to get them from my cold dead hands under my pillow."


in short: its all obamas fault!

hahaha nice one

better not toot your horn too loud, fox news might come a knockin and offer you a job

 

[Angie7F]

Thank goodness the kid didnt get his hands on an evangelion...

 

[Lieju]

Looking at that article, I'm kinda upset at them posting the picture (and video)of the kid. He is a minor, isn't even giving his name illegal in some countries?
We really don't want to turn these kinds of shooters into celebrities, not to mention he is so far just charged with murder. (It's not like there's much doubt over whether he did it, but this is a matter of principle.)

I usually hate the armchair psychologists cries of "he must have been crazy" shocking crimes tend to bring out, but if the "hearing in his head" bit is correct, and not mere hyperbole, then it would seem to be justified this time.

Anyway, this kid sounds like he has genuine mental problems if he is hearing voices in his head. Don't blame the games, blame the brain. The only time I have heard voices in my head whilst playing violent games is when I had the Xbox Live headset on.

Hearing voices itself isn't necessarily a sign of mental issues. It can be, but a lot of people who do hear voices don't have any other issues. (They tend to stay quiet about it, though, considering the stigma attached to it, or consider them religious experiences)

Whether he even did hear voices is uncertain, he might be just saying that, or it might be a figure of speech.

EDIT:

Not necessarily insane. Decidely psychotic though and clearly unsafe to be around normal people, but you can be a psychopath and be sane. The two are not mutually exclusive things.

I was saying that pleading insanity for a lighter sentence in such a situation should be immediately thrown out of the court.

I'd consider being psychotic (=losing contact with reality, hallucinations, delusions etc. not the same thing as being a psychopath) as grounds for pleading insanity.

 

[CriticalMiss]

Hearing voices itself isn't necessarily a sign of mental issues. It can be, but a lot of people who do hear voices don't have any other issues. (They tend to stay quiet about it, though, considering the stigma attached to it, or consider them religious experiences)

Whether he even did hear voices is uncertain, he might be just saying that, or it might be a figure of speech.

Ok, but if those voices (assuming he had them) are telling him to kill people? Surely that is a sign that something has gone awry. And I wonder whether there is actually a way to reliably test for head voices other than simply asking a patient/subject and assuming they are being honest.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

Oh boy. Unnecessary controversy in three, two, one....

 

[Xanex]

Did the parents try to protect themselves in a government approved way? Did they try and run to a safe zone? Did they have a whistle? Or were they with their protection buddy?

 

[ThatDarnCoyote]

I'm sorry, you don't get to single Republicans out on this one. Let's not forget the past when Senators Lieberman (Democrat) and Hillary Clinton (Democrat) were BOTH trying to ram through videogame legislation in the wake of Columbine. This isn't something that can be blamed on one party or the other, BOTH parties are full of reactionary nitwits trying to pass bullshit legislation against videogames.

Indeed. Don't forget, the sponsor of that bill in California to criminalize selling M-rated games to minors was a Democrat [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Yee].

As for the kid, I'm guessing psychopath. The "hearing voices" thing might just be him telling the cops what he thinks they want to hear (which is exactly what a psychopath would do). It's highly unusual for actual schizophrenia to manifest in someone that young. Not unheard of, but very rare.

 

[Lieju]

Hearing voices itself isn't necessarily a sign of mental issues. It can be, but a lot of people who do hear voices don't have any other issues. (They tend to stay quiet about it, though, considering the stigma attached to it, or consider them religious experiences)

Whether he even did hear voices is uncertain, he might be just saying that, or it might be a figure of speech.

Ok, but if those voices (assuming he had them) are telling him to kill people? Surely that is a sign that something has gone awry. And I wonder whether there is actually a way to reliably test for head voices other than simply asking a patient/subject and assuming they are being honest.

Is he even claiming that? From that article, it's not clear.

I don't think it's possible to determine if someone is actually hearing voices or not, but I don't think the psychologists/psychiatrists are even going to focus on that, rather trying to determine if he is suffering from psychosis, does he understand his actions etc.

A person with no other issues isn't going to go 'okay, I guess I'll go and kill my parents then!' if they hear voices telling them to.
Rather, they have ther issues, and the voices being hostile or violent is a symptom of that.

 

[adamsaccount]

These things happen, in my opinion due to intense uncontrolled emotions, more specifically anger and nothing else. I have a schizophrenic friend who hears voices saying all sorts of terrible stuff but he never acts on them. The only way we can possibly stop things like this from occurring is an increase in compassion for troubled people and labelling them as psycho killers and less then human, which the media has a tendency to do can be a self fulfilling prophecy.

Its scary because we are all capable of intense anger under emotional stress and then terrible acts. Having us, the sane and them, the insane lets us ignore this fact. But then again maybe im wrong and maybe mental health problems are totally unpredictable and uncontrollable. I don't really know. I'm not an expert, this is all conjecture from me and it makes me feel a bit sick inside to be sat here speculating on something like this when I don't fully know the the situation but I genuinely want to help, after the sandy hook massacre and due to mental health issues of my own stuff like this has been on my mind a lot recently.

I also think that having less guns around could in some circumstances stop these kinds of things from happening but its not my job to formulate policy for the USA.

To conclude I think the "us and them" mentality that I perceive from some people towards mental health problems is a negative thing and doesn't really helping anyone in the end.