Investigators believe 8-year-old intentionally killed 90-year-old woman
Source: WNEM
SLAUGHTER, LA (WAFB) -
East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office officials say they believe an 8-year-old intentionally pulled the trigger and killed an elderly woman Thursday evening right after playing 'Grand Theft Auto IV'. Although they believe it was an intentional crime, according to Louisiana law, the child will not be charged.
In what is now being called a homicide, the Sheriff's Office says it happened at the Country Breeze mobile home park on LA 67 near Slaughter, LA just after 5 p.m.
Read more: http://www.wnem.com/story/23242078/investigators-believe-8-year-old-intentionally-killed-90-year-old-woman
How awful.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Blame a fucking game and not whatever asshole left a gun where an 8 year old could get it.
Not that an 8 year-old should be playing a game but lets blame what killed. the GUN. The god blessed america loved motherfucking gun.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)8-year old, and 2) the 8-year old to play GTA 4?
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)atleast last time I checked.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)mbperrin
(7,672 posts)Thanks.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Which again makes no sense, when alcohol is legal...
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)derby378
(30,252 posts)...I firmly believe children have no business playing them. They deal with a lot of moral (and amoral) issues that are ill-suited to the well-being of a developing mind. Us old farts who have a more defined concept of right and wrong can deal with the mature themes, but it's wrong to put children through this sort of thing.
I'm beginning to think enforcing the software ratings isn't such a bad idea after all.
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,496 posts)theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)The gun belonged to Mrs. Smothers, the 90 year old the boy killed.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,815 posts)Shakespear would have loved it.
billh58
(6,635 posts)people -- people who give guns to 8-year-olds do.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)could he not be charged with anything? That's it? No social worker or therapy? No home visits? WTF??!?!
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)these days if ordered by a judge?
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Cut to the bone.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)Courtesy Flush
(4,558 posts)It only said they cannot prosecute, and are exploring other options. Almost guaranteed, DCFS is involved
--Courtesy Flush (retired Louisiana DCFS caseworker)
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)There are other ways to involve child welfare services in most states. Cops may even be allowed to make the call to report a suspected case of child endangerment (there was access to the gun) and/or neglect.
sybylla
(8,464 posts)Why would charging an 8yo with anything fix the stupidity. This child, too young to grasp the consequences or even understand the permanence of death, needs all the love and psychological help he can get, especially as he comes to realize not only what he has done but how his own family let him down by not protecting him from such a circumstance.
Condemnation and seclusion is the equivalent of throwing this child away.
Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)in normal people. Who in the fuck gives GTA IV to an average 8 year old?!
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)What can I say? I grew up on Mario and Zelda on the NES, but when I saw Mortal Kombat in the arcade in 1993, my perspective on what a game could be changed. However, I've never EVER let my 7 1/2 yr old daughter play (or watch) ANY of those games. She gets to play games like Mario, Zelda, Kirby, et al. If I'm playing something violent, it's either after she's in bed, not home, or not in the room. There's certain things kids shouldn't see/hear. GTA is one of the worst as far as content and language. NO child should EVER see/play those games. There's a video game rating system for a reason. Parents should follow it. If you don't let your child watch an R rated movie, don't let them play a game rated M or A. I do make exceptions for her with games rated T, but mostly it's been the Final Fantasy series.
Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)I play GTA, I also play Mortal Kombat, Team Fortress 2 and Doom. I have been playing them from a youing age, mainly because my mom felt confident that I knew that it was just fantasy: pixels and special effects.
Thing is, however, a lot of people see video games as strictly kids fare, despite the fact that a lot of the popular ones are essentially interactive R-rated movies. You are right, if they wouldn't let their child watch an R-rated film, they shouldn't let them play M-rated video games.
cynzke
(1,254 posts)Between the media and internet, we are bombarded with movies, programs and videos that suggest revenge and violence are acceptable means to deal with social relationships and conflicts. If you watch the daytime court programs you will see evidence of this. Neighbor vs. neighbor, girlfriend, boyfriend, classmate etc, resort to petty acts of violence they feel totally justified in committing because they feel wronged/disrespected. Fist fights, vandalism, etc.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)no excitement just relaxed fun
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)Most games I play have epic story lines. They're not all violent, just some of them.
Hidden object and other casual games don't really do it for me.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Mario: What kind of psychopath goes around stomping people to death?
Zelda: Breaks into people's houses, stabs them and takes their stuff.
Kirby: Cannibalism
You're right, those aren't really violent. But Mortal Kombat, Hitman, Spec Ops, Call Of Duty, Last Of Us, Tomb Raider (the new one), et al are QUITE violent. As I stated before, I LOVE games like this. They're fun for me.
However, I am NOT a violent person, and I'm quite squeamish around the sight of blood (that is, REAL blood, I can watch the goriest movies with no qualms, but I cut my thumb tip off a few months back, and the sight of the blood made me so nauseous that I vomited). But give me a game where I can strangle someone, then drag the body to a dumpster and drop it in? I'm fucking there!
But, I'm an adult. I can differentiate between simulated violence and real violence. I could do the same as a teenager. I don't think that young children can.
Tien1985
(920 posts)We are big game players--both video and tabletop games.
What type of adult lets an 8 yr old play GTA?!
tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)....and I imagine the 8 year old will have issues with what he did for some time.
TBF
(31,921 posts)they are both under 12. We own no weapons. None of us would know where to get a gun if we wanted one. Well, I've heard Walmart sells them so I guess that would be an option. Still it would be a new experience as I have not handled one since I was a kid living in the country (we had bb guns) with my dad overseeing our play.
Where were the parents?
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Are they violent games?
TBF
(31,921 posts)I do know he turned off the internet on my son's kindle so if he wants to watch movies or something he has to ask - so I'm pretty sure they're not playing anything too life-like or extremely violent. I'm not big on censoring and let them read pretty much what they want but they also have a lot of supervision. He keeps an eye on internet/games.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)kimbutgar
(20,874 posts)randr
(12,408 posts)What color was his skin?
valerief
(53,235 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)and has access to a gun. A 90 year old woman dies.
And none of the people in between 8 and 90 are culpable. Who owned the gun. Who took care of the 8 year old and 90 year old (presuming they weren't quite up to taking care of an 8 year old playing GTA4, could be wrong, my aunt lived to be 106 and she whipped your ass well into the 90's and was canning, too. Shelling peas was a video game if you crossed her.)
So who owned the gun?
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)The gun belonged to the lady who was murdered.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)Tunkamerica
(4,444 posts)out an innocent old lady.
Truthfully there is no incentive to kill innocents in GTA after the original game which came out in 1997. Maybe in 2, which came out in 1999, but it's been a while. I don't remember the specifics. The negatives always outweighed the positives in the game.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)... some of the other headlines on that page were horrific, too -- like the one about two young men who doused a man with gasoline and set him on fire and another young man who severely beat a 2 year old, who is hospitalized.
BTW, the gun used by the 8 year old belonged to the caregiver. No charges there; she's dead.
sybylla
(8,464 posts)8yos don't have the ability to connect that many dots together. They do, however, immitate behavior they see. I certainly can see how the child could have intentionally pulled the trigger after watching such a game. But to extrapolate from that that the child intended to kill the woman or even understood what death meant is perverse, prejudicial, unbelievably stupid and, not to mention, libelous.
It's sad that anyone is even discussing the possibility of charging an 8yo with anything.
Bay Boy
(1,689 posts)...quote the investigator accurately?
sybylla
(8,464 posts)I don't see anyone "quoting" an investigator. Here's what the story says, no "quotes" to show it as a direct quote from anyone.
East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office officials say they believe an 8-year-old intentionally pulled the trigger and killed an elderly woman Thursday evening right after playing 'Grand Theft Auto IV'.
Does "intentionally" apply to "pulled the trigger" while "killed and elderly woman" is a consequence. Or did the investigators actually say this. Is the fact that this article has no specific quotes from any law enforcement representative an attempt to turn this event and the child in the center of it into something neither is?
The article goes on to say this:
"In a release from the Sheriff's Office, it says although the child initially told investigators that he accidentally shot Smothers while playing with a firearm, the investigation has led them to believe the child intentionally shot her. Smothers was shot in the back of the head while she was in the living room watching television."
I can absolutely see where the 8yo, after playing that game and then discovering the gun might intentionally use the gun in the manner displayed in the game. But that doesn't imply intent to kill, and the release apparently doesn't say that either, according to the article.
This is either sloppily written or intentionally sensationalized. I'm guessing both.
As I said, it's an abomination to journalism.
There are so many holes - holes one can easily assume intentionally left to create a sensation. Were there any witnesses? Can someone not be accidentally shot in the back of the head? Does no one on the force have an 8yo child and the ability to understand how an 8yo mind works? Will an 8yo tell the same story twice in the exact same way? Are they interrogating this poor child? Were child psychologists involved? Were his parents present when he was questioned?
Here's the only quote from the press release:
"By accounts of relatives of the victim, as well as friends of the family, the victim and the juvenile had a normal, loving, relationship." "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"
As someone has already said, why isn't the subject of this article the fact that someone let an 8yo near a loaded gun, not to mention GTA? Why isn't this reported as a terrible tragedy for a multi-generational family living on the economic bleeding-edge in a mobile home park in Louisiana, whose neighborhood is probably no place for an 8yo to grow up in (hence the loaded gun)? Why must the child be portrayed as a monster?
If this terrible event happened in a McMansion in a fancy white neighborhood, would the newspaper have even covered it? And if they did, I've got a Franklin that says they would have been all sympathy and tears.
Bay Boy
(1,689 posts)...are/were you a journalist?
sybylla
(8,464 posts)So I can recognize them a mile away. My husband stopped letting me get the paper delivered to our door because I'd spend an hour on the couch bitching about all the crap in it from bad grammar to sensationalized and/or spun stories.
Had a BIL commit suicide 19 years ago. I was with his wife when we found the body. I was the one who called 911. So I know exactly how everything went down. You wouldn't believe the shit they put in the paper. It was all about selling their rag; not in the least about purveying the truth.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)Yeah, I've heard the old schtick about kids having trouble distinguishing right and wrong, but most little kids who play video games, even violent ones, don't kill people. We must consider the possibility that this kid has had some mental problems, or even possible history of bullying and/or abuse(any of which have been significant, if not primary, factors in a very large majority of cases like this.).
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)...that he couldn't differentiate between video games and real life???
I think you're right.
.
gopiscrap
(23,674 posts)either way, whether he's guilty or not!
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)But at 8, he must have understood that shooting the woman would have killed her? Unless he was not very bright for an 8 year old.
It is a situation that should not be ignored, even if criminal charges are not appropriate.
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)It was really the first violent video game I ever played.
There were times, when I was driving and sitting at a red light, that for a split second, the thought of driving on the sidewalk to skirt traffic seriously popped into my head.
I have no doubt that in an undeveloped brain, such a game played enough could have a similar impact.
That doesn't change the fact that an eight year old somehow got access to a real gun.