X box a mass murderer?

[darkvare]

read it all people:
Florida mass murder blamed on Xbox

Violent ex-con and several squatters allegedly slay entire household to recover gaming console.
One week after the UK was rocked by an allegedly Manhunt-inspired murder, the US has its own game-related slaying. On Friday, Sheriff's deputies discovered the bodies of four men and two women in the central Florida town of Deltona. All had been stabbed and beaten with baseball bats, some so brutally that they could not be identified by dental records. All had been killed in their sleep, along with the family's pet dog.

What could drive someone to commit such vicious homicides? According to the media, the slayings were committed because of a dispute over an Xbox console. Echoing last week's "Murder by PlayStation" reports in British tabloids, American news outlets like CNN ("Sheriff: 4 charged in Florida killings over Xbox") and the Associated Press ("Police: Xbox Theft Spurred Fla. Slayings") ran headlines trumpeting the Microsoft console as the primary reason for the crime.

However, the stories beneath the headlines paint a more complex picture. According to reports, the sequence of events that led to the mass murder began August 1, when Erin Belanger, 22, went to the vacant Deltona home used by her grandparents as a winter getaway. Once there, she discovered 27-year old ex-convict Troy Victorino and several squatters living at the home, which they had used as a "party house" since July.

Upset, Belanger kicked Victorino and the others out of the property, and took the belongings they left behind--which included an Xbox--back to the nearby house she shared with friends. According to the AP, sheriff's deputies were called to the vacation home six times over the next week to evict the squatters. Belanger also reported Victorino threatened Belanger that if she did not return the Xbox and some of his clothes, he was going to "beat her with a baseball bat when she was sleeping."

Tragically, that's exactly what happened late Friday night, when Victorino and three accomplices--Robert Cannon, 18, Jerone Hunter, 18 and Michael Salas, 18--reportedly entered Belanger's house armed with aluminum baseball bats. According to confessions made by the teenage suspects, they proceeded to beat and stab everyone in the house to death, including: Belanger; her boyfriend, Francisco Roman, 30; Jonathan Gleason, 18; Roberto Gonzalez, 28; Michelle Nathan, 19; and Anthony Vega, 34. After Victorino surveyed the bloody scene to confirm everyone was dead, he grabbed the Xbox, and the four departed.

The bodies were found several hours later, when one of the victims' coworkers went to the house to see why he had not shown up for work. On Saturday, police took in Victorino and Hunter for questioning. Hunter quickly confessed, leading to the arrests of the other two suspects. All four are being charged with first-degree murder and armed burglary.

While most media reports have focused on the Xbox connection to the mass murder, few outlined Victorino's extensive criminal history. According to the AP, Victorino spent eight of the last 11 years in prison, and was on probation when he allegedly committed the murders. Since he was first arrested for grand theft auto at 15, he has been convicted for a string of violent crimes, including arson, burglary, theft, and assault and battery.

[Spectre X]

I didn't read that. I do, however, have a pretty big chance of knowing exactly what it's about seeing as I've just read about what I think to be that article's subject on Something Awful.


In conclusion: Shut the fuck up you fucking wad.

[Daphne]

You're from Quebec and you can't spell it? That's sad.

[ArrowX]

If someone is fucking crayz enough to beat people to death with baseball bats I don't think that a vido game is going to give them the proper motivation

I love reading anti-video game reports. Like the one that stated "The boy was looking forward as you would do in a game such as Half-Life"

[liquidstatik]

[darkvare]

i saw another one called murder by play station a guy killed his friend with a hammer and they blame it to manhunt
(and in quebec they speak french, ugly french oh yeah i'm mexican by the way)

[eggyolk]

He would have done the same thing if it had been a stereo or other piece of electronic equipment.

[AChimp]

Yeah, this story is true. It's not BECAUSE of the X-box, though. It's because the chick stole his X-box.

[eggyolk]

Right, so we're ruling out the possibility of "video game causes violence" here, right?

[Anonymous]

What the hell is this doing here? This isn't even a story about someone blaming video games for a crime they committed; it's just a group of ex-cons who kill some people and take their shit back. The lesson here is that if you catch squatters in your house, and they threaten to kill you, call the police then and there.

[Dr. V]

Dat's fugged up.

[ThisIsWitty]

You know they're serious when they tell you how they're going to get their shit back "baseball bat....sleeping".

[subterfuge]

Originally Posted by Dr. Boogie

...The lesson here is that if you catch squatters in your house, and they threaten to kill you, call the police then and there.

According to the AP, sheriff's deputies were called to the vacation home six times over the next week to evict the squatters.

Buy 6 guns instead, THEN call the police and tell them you've killed some intruders.

[ThisIsWitty]

What a great idea.

Or you could slaughter them with a baseball bat. It would be more fitting.

[Jixby Phillips]

Yeah, a baseball bat!!!

[ThisIsWitty]

Yeah.

[mubert]

I'm such a dumbass, that when I saw this thread, I thought that the guy actually beat the person to death with an xbox...but it would work since theyre so damn bulky.

[ThisIsWitty]

It would overheat and need a new disk-drive before the game even loaded and you got a good swing in.