This story, culled from the Enterprise News of Massachusetts, makes me nostalgic for the heady days of the mid aughts, when blaming crime-sprees on Grand Theft Auto was in fashion. According to The Enterprise, a couple of young people in Raynham were "playing Grand Theft Auto video games" the other night, and decided to do some suburban crime. The 12 and 16 year old tagged the neighborhood with graffiti, stole some gasoline, then tried to make Molotov cocktails and blow up a building. The 12 year-old said the pair was inspired by the game.
"They appear to have crossed the line from virtual reality to reality,” Police Chief Lou Pacheco said... which technically means the two kids came out of the video game itself. Luckily, no one was hurt, as the kids used flame retardant material as Molotov wicks, and that won't blow up anything except your chances to get into a good college.
Although the local fire department was able to put out the fires before much burned down, there was severe damage done to good taste and decorum in the small town; according to the paper, several of the pairs "more graphic messages" had been covered by the Highway Department before police could photograph them. If I know gamers, those messages were crudely drawn pictures of dongs. The kids will be charged for their crimes, an unlike the game, they won't be released 5 seconds later with all their weapons gone.
A message to all kids who might be inspired by GTA 4: Instead of going on a pathetic vandalism spree, take your cousin bowling. He loves bowling!
Source: Enterprise News
Comments
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Sir_William
the charmin toilet paper bears made me throw tp in tree's
and tapax gave me a period...
oh and capt. morgan made me into a pirate, to steal music
I say sendem to iraq and givem all the bottles and gas they can throw.
speaking of. empty the prisions & send them over too.
it worked for austrailia & british
ParanoiDave
Wow... How did I miss this story? I live in Brockton MA and Raynham is literally one town away... I haven't heard anything about this until now...
Rollie34
The first time I played GTA was when I was 11 years old. I was a straight A student and my parents knew what the game was about and knew that I was a smart kid and wouldn't do anything dumb like this. Now 5 years later I haven't done anything bad in real life that I have done in GTA They should lock up the kids AND the parents for this crap.
lilfisticuffer
Thanks a lot kids. . . now the anti gamers are going to be using this argument constantly for the next 5 years.
Buzzerker74
screw you dix, the world needs more of these little bastards. hell, why not have them throw the molotovs at the parents AND the cops? now that would be awesome! these kids would beat the holy screaming be-jebus outta you sucktards and i would pay good money to see it.
masterfenix
Shocking! put all the blame on games and in particular, GTA. Man, ECA is gonna have a hard time with that case now.
alaskanhybrid
Awesome these @#$%$#(put favorite curse word here) kids just ^$%$^&*(here) ruined it for those that know the $#%&@(and here)difference.
Tman88
I guess the parents didn't know that M 17+ stood for Mature. Last time I checked that meant the game could have content not suitable for children under the said age. Many parents went to college and obtained masters degrees, and yet when it comes to game ratings they get lost in translation when all that's required is the ability to read. It's sad that parents let their kids do illegal acts but I guess if the parents wanted a golden award in something, bad parenting is it, but unfortunately the kids and civilians involved end up paying the price. Just be good parents, that is all that it takes, and if they choose to let their kids play games underage, at least know the contents of the game that are on the back of the game case.
kwfang
I would say the parents are to blame a lot of kids play these kind of games but they don't do anything bad. The parents probably didn't teach these kids from right from wrong so in their stupid little minds they are going to do stuff like this.
cappstv
Its not that kids shouldn't play M games, only the kids who get easily influence by violence in games. They were probably lying anyway, I bet they came up with the idea themselves. And these kids were pretty stupid. As the main article said,"Detective William Donnelly found paint white spray paint cans in a vehicle registered to the 16-year old."
Tip: If you are going to commit a crime just because you are easily influence by a video game, make sure you watch some law and order first.
SirCitadel
yes, i also like to play 'grand theft auto video games' when im not trying to pick up birds at the sock hop, or spending my money on nickel candy and moon pies.
xN7 SNiiPer209x
just because of this post...i feel like playing GTA now and blowing stuff up and then going out to hang out with my friends and have a good time not being a dumb ass.
grunge sofa
I've been playing a lot of Oblivion. I think I'll try and trap someone's soul in a black soul gem. Because that's what videogames make me want to do.
Actually...I do kind of want to do that.
xN7 SNiiPer209x
any lawsuit in this case should be disallowed. the kids were underage for playing the game and the parents should be at fault for breaking the law.
Angelicsin87
Special kids alert! LOL. That's why kids should stick to their Wii's and stay away from real consols like PS3 and XBOX.
ZyloWolfBane
Yes lets blame the game and not the parents that allowed any child to play this game in the first place, because chances are they werent already screwed up too much to be able to be allowed in common society with other human beings prior to playing a VIDEO GAME.
See? This is what happens when you dont stay at home and beat your children, games dont make bad kids, bad parents make bad kids, just like how guns dont kill people, bad people with guns kill defenseless people who dont have guns.
Stick the kids in a mental institution for not being able to seperate reality from a video game and stick the parents in jail.
christof_
Another option besides bowling. Take a girl out on an awkward date, get drunk, get hit by a car, and end the night in offscreen sex!! Lol...
christof_
Sigh. Stupid kids. Here comes the extensive video game bashing from the press...
Krypton
And this is why parents should NOT buy their stupid whinning kids M rated games. I really hope the punishment they get is severe. And I really hope their stupid parents get crap for this too. I am sick to death of hearing GTA get blamed for stupid people and their shennanigans.
Blame the idiotic parents, not the games. Blame the stupid inbred kids who obviously have no intellegence.
EKG
You see, this gives the supreme court reason to believe the pathetic politicians like the Governator. They won't mention the millions of people who play games without incident, just the few who play games and act out.
The SAME EXACT things happen with movies as well. You know how many times a child was killed or seriously injured replicating a move they saw on WWE, or in an action movie?? Kids will be kids. They need tougher parenting, NOT censored video games.
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