by Patrick H. Moore
In a homicide case so sad that it brings a lump to my throat, it is reported that an 8-year-old boy in Slaughter, Louisiana (no pun intended), shot and killed his 90-year-old grandmother in the back of the head after spending the evening playing ”Grand Theft Auto IV”, a video game. A release from the Sheriff’s office states:
“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.”
Although the boy initially said the shooting was an accident, the investigators determined it was intentional.
The above statement should be examined. The shooter is an 8-year-old kid. We all know that kids that age, when confronted by something they allegedly did wrong, have a strong tendency to fib (lie) to try and get out of it. On the other hand, how did the investigators “determine it was intentional”? Did they cross-examine the kid? Did they lean on him a little? Who knows. The sad truth is it probably was more or less intentional; the kid was probably angry at his grandmother and may well have purposely shot her without being fully aware that real bullets fired from real guns do real damage.
The real issue is not whether it was intentional or an accident. The real issue was why in the world was an 8-year-old kid walking around the house with a loaded gun in his hand? His now deceased grandmother probably didn’t just give it to him and tell him, “Now junior. Here’s a nice gun. Now you run along and play with it.” He probably either knew where it was kept or just happened to come across it. The one thing led to another — it happened to be loaded — and his grandmother was suddenly a statistic.
Now, I wonder if the kid was able to distinguish between the violence he was perpetrating, no doubt with great good glee, while playing “Grand Theft Auto IV” and the fact that shooting his grandmother with a loaded gun was not quite the same as wasting car thieves in the video game. It’s generally not that difficult for those of us who are substantially older to distinguish the “real world” from “virtual reality”, probably because we lived in the “real world” (at least I lived in the real world) for a long time before the “virtual world” was invented and came to play such a large part in our lives.
But the younger a person is, the more the balance shifts in the direction of “virtual reality” subsuming a larger and larger part of that person’s existence. An 8-year-old boy who is “babysat” by violent video games, and may well watch violent videos and cartoons, might really struggle to distinguish the “virtual world” from the “real world.”
And don’t think I’m in any way casting aspersions upon the 90-year-old grandmother who lost her life. There have been no reports that I’m aware of as to her mental acuity or lack thereof and I do not wish to blame anything on her.
So who is to blame? The manufacturer who make the big bucks selling Grand Theft Auto IV? The gun manufacturers who make the big bucks selling their products? The retailers who sell the violent video games and the firearms? The child’s parents, who now have custody of the kid, for not taking steps to ensure that grandmother’s gun was kept in a secure place. Perhaps all of these participants are to blame to varying degrees.
I am reminded of a quote by the famous English poet, John Donne:
“Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
It is reported that the kid will not be charged with any crime because under Louisiana law you apparently must be 10-years-old to be charged with a crime.