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Highway Shooters Claim To Emulate GTA

Posted by simoniker on from the stupidity-is-stupidity-no-matter-what-excuse dept.

Thanks to Yahoo! for their story regarding teenage stepbrothers who randomly fired at cars on a Tennessee freeway, killing one person and wounding another, and told police they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto's sniper mode. According to the piece: "From a wooded area near their home at the Smoky Mountain Country Club, the boys fired a .22-caliber rifle up to 25 times through a break in the trees at cars driving along Interstate 40 about two miles east of Newport. They said they were bored and decided to shoot at tractor-trailer rigs, just like in the video game, 'Grand Theft Auto.'" According to this IOL/Reuters article, "Prosecutor Al Schmutzer told Judge Ben Strand that the boys told authorities they were mimicking the video game by trying to hit the sides of passing trucks."

6 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. So what are you saying? by wbav · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We need to make a game where people jump off a cliff and kill them selves to finally clean out the shallow end of the gene pool? Sheesh. People will say anything these days to shift blame from themselves.

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    Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
  2. It's rated mature... by Basje · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The ESRB rating for GTA3 and VC is 17+. What were these kids doing with a game that they shouldn't be playing? They should sue the parents for negligence.

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    the pun is mightier than the sword
  3. So what are you saying? (read more) by wbav · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The real question is, who was dumb enough to give these kids a gun.

    They should receive the same punishment, because through their action/inaction they helped kill this driver.

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    Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
    1. Re:So what are you saying? (read more) by lafiel · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The real question is, who was dumb enough to give these kids a gun.

      Probably the parents were pathetic and irresponsible people as well. All this blame on games is pretty stupid, why don't you blame on the people that couldn't teach the kids that a game is a game, and shouldn't be tried in the real world?

      You'd think these kids had some sort of teachings that taught them "shooting a truck with a gun is bad". It seems glaringly obvious the parents are at fault here, and people are once again looking for the scapegoat to blame.

      Get some responsible parents, stop blaming games/tv/(insert someone else here).

  4. idiot box by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Prosecutor Al Schmutzer told Judge Ben Strand that the boys told authorities they were mimicking the video game by trying to hit the sides of passing trucks."

    Yeah, and he probably forget to mention to the judge that due to the lack of parental attention and involvement in these boys lives, they grew up to be anti-social and depressed kids who deep-down really just wanted somebody to pay attention to them while their parents sat on the couch, drank beer, and worshipped the idiot box.

  5. Get Bored - Shoot People ? by FileNotFound · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The best line by far is :"I didn't want to hurt anyone"

    You got to be shitting me. You take a .22 rifle and shoot at cars...wtf are you trying to do?

    If you're shooting a rifle anywhere but at the shooting range, you're shooting to kill as far as I know.

    Even in GTA, you only ever shot to either blow up the truck or kill the driver.

    It's absurd that anyone believes their bullshit.

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    In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!