Montreal Police: Dawson College Massacre Developer Won't Be Charged

Montreal police will not charge the creator of a game that uses the September 2006 shooting at Dawson College that left one dead and 19 injured. Police said that they could not charge the 23-year-old Ontario man who goes by the name "Virtuaman" because no one could accuse him of an actual crime.

His crime, according to some who were deeply offended by the game, was recreating killer Anastasia DeSousa’s violent rampage. While the Montreal police department has asked for the game to be removed because it is not "socially sensitive or moral," the creator has no obligation to do so.

The game, a simple top-down action game called Dawson College Massacre, was released on September 8. It is available on Newgrounds.com now. Despite the complaints, Newgrounds has not taken the game down.

While the game remains online, "Virtuaman" posted a lengthy statement on the game's page to apologize and try to explain why he made the game in the first place. Below is an excerpt from the Newgrounds page where he tries to speak directly to citizens of Montreal, who have been subjected to a number of news stories on the game:

"In the end I can see that Montreal is most angry with this games existence and at me for creating it. For that I can only say, it is only a game, it was not created with the purpose of offending anyone specifically, it was not created to make money(I never received and never will receive money for this game.), it was created to bring attention to the reality of school shootings, it was created to explore an area that is unexplored, it was created to teach others that this is what happens in a school shooting. Why? Because damn near all of you are in a college or high school and you should be educated about such things."