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Police: 8-year-old shoots, kills grandmother after video game
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/25/us/louisiana-boy-kills-grandmother/
(CNN) -- An 8-year-old boy intentionally shot and killed his grandmother on Thursday evening after playing a violent video game, authorities say.
Marie Smothers, 90, was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head in a mobile home park in Slaughter, Louisiana, the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Slaughter is about 20 miles north of Baton Rouge.
Although the boy initially told investigators that he accidentally shot the woman while playing with a firearm, the probe led authorities to believe he "intentionally shot Mrs. Smothers in the back of the head as she sat in her living room watching television," the statement said.
The boy won't face charges. Under Louisiana law, a child under 10 is exempt from criminal responsibility.
"By accounts of relatives of the victim, as well as friends of the family, the victim and the juvenile had a normal, loving, relationship and even shared the same bedroom," the sheriff's department said.
Ex-profiler: Video games erode empathy
"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."
Smothers was the boy's caregiver, CNN affiliate WAFB reported.
"We have a child who does not know the impact of the consequences of the act he committed," Sclynski Legier, a lawyer, told WAFB. "He truly doesn't understand that."
He is now with his parents.
Violence in video games
There has long been debate about whether virtual violence in video games leads to actual violence, and it's become more heated since 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Like many young males who went on shooting rampages in the past, the shooter, Adam Lanza, was reportedly obsessed with violent video games.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/25/us/louisiana-boy-kills-grandmother/
(CNN) -- An 8-year-old boy intentionally shot and killed his grandmother on Thursday evening after playing a violent video game, authorities say.
Marie Smothers, 90, was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head in a mobile home park in Slaughter, Louisiana, the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Slaughter is about 20 miles north of Baton Rouge.
Although the boy initially told investigators that he accidentally shot the woman while playing with a firearm, the probe led authorities to believe he "intentionally shot Mrs. Smothers in the back of the head as she sat in her living room watching television," the statement said.
The boy won't face charges. Under Louisiana law, a child under 10 is exempt from criminal responsibility.
"By accounts of relatives of the victim, as well as friends of the family, the victim and the juvenile had a normal, loving, relationship and even shared the same bedroom," the sheriff's department said.
Ex-profiler: Video games erode empathy
"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."
Smothers was the boy's caregiver, CNN affiliate WAFB reported.
"We have a child who does not know the impact of the consequences of the act he committed," Sclynski Legier, a lawyer, told WAFB. "He truly doesn't understand that."
He is now with his parents.
Violence in video games
There has long been debate about whether virtual violence in video games leads to actual violence, and it's become more heated since 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Like many young males who went on shooting rampages in the past, the shooter, Adam Lanza, was reportedly obsessed with violent video games.
