Yesterday it was Connecticut State Senator Gayle Slossberg (D) fretting about a non-existent rape scene in GTA IV.
Today, police in Nassau County, New York allege that six teenagers charged with robbing a man at a supermarket were emulating Grand Theft Auto:
Nassau County police cops have arrested six teens for robbing a man at a supermarket... The police add the teens arrested were emualting [sic] the characters from the video game Grand Theft Auto.
Police say later that night they were armed with bats and a crowbar and were walking down Stewrt Ave. when they robbed a woman of cigarettes and struck a passing van with a bat.
GP: The kid has a Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt on. Maybe he was imitating them...
Thanks to GamePolitics correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes for the heads-up.
UPDATE: Newsday has more on the GTA angle, including a quote from Nassau County P.D. Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone:
It was determined that they were emulating the character in that Grand Theft Auto game, going on a crime spree... We got certain admissions.
UPDATE: According to the NY Post, the kids were specifically imitating GTA IV protagonist Nico Bellic. The paper quotes Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Raymond Cote:
They decided they were going to go out to commit robberies and emulate the [lead] character Nico Belic [sic] in the particularly violent video game Grand Theft Auto... These teens have difficulty separating fact from fiction, fantasy from reality . . . It was quite alarming... They were bored and they decided this was a good idea.
The Post adds:
Police would not say specifically how they knew that the teens crimes were motivated by Grand Theft Auto, and not by some other motive. They said they discovered it during their investigation.
Comments
Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
I wonder how much JT paid for that statement.
and since when could you rob someone of cigarettes in GTA?
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't really rob people without killing them in GTA. If you hold a baseball bat or gun, they'll stop for a second, turn, then flee. Thats not the same thing that went on. It really bothers me that video games as a medium come under more scrutiny than anything else, but the people criticizing them actually know nothing about them.
Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
Huh, why doesn't the comment box show up in Firefox 3 anymore? I had to fire up IE so I could post this...
(I'd submit a 'stupid award' to my favorite podcast but, we already did a GTA4-themed one a few weeks back. :P)
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Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
I'm in FF3, and I see a comment box.
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"I'm stel not responcabel fer my comuter's spleling errnors." -- Xlorep DarkHelm
Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
Oh that's weird, it just showed up .... I wonder what was causing it? (I did have a popup-blocker installed and turned on, I didn't know it'd have any adverse effects being on here, so I just disabled it.)
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Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
Maybe their hairstyles did it?
Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
LOL! Sadly I once had a similar haircut. The stylist asked me beforehand...did I really want to do it? Not so great the first couple days at school...
Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
Actually, I was about to comment that their hairstyles look an awful lot like that 'punk' trio of hitmen in the movie "Smokin' Aces" (especially the character played by Kevin Durand)...just sayin'
Also, is anyone else creeped out by the police saying "We got certain admissions (from the boys)." ? Sounds an awful lot like "we pressured them into saying just what we wanted." to me.
Honestly, has the very posibility that this might just be a case of stupid angsty teenagers doing stupid angsty teenager criminal acts? Do we really NEED to blame it on something at all?
Re: Cops Say Teens Were Emulating GTA in Robbery Spree...
That is some grade A bull shit, not sure if the teens are making that sad excuse that a game made them do it or if the police are too fucking retarded to actually believe that the kids just wanted some fun or money and that it may be caused by a social or home problem