Teenager kills mother in Halo 3 Row

A US teenager killed his mother and wounded his father in revenge after they took away his violent computer game, a judge has ruled.

The defence team for Daniel Petric, 17, had argued his addiction to the Halo 3 game, in which players shoot invading aliens, had made him insane.
But the judge rejected this, saying he had planned revenge for weeks.

Petric, of Ohio, was tried as an adult and faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison without parole.

On the night of the shooting in October 2007, Petric used his father\'s key to open a lockbox and remove a 9mm handgun and the game, the court heard.

His father Mark, who was shot in the head and survived, testified that his son came into the room and asked: \"Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you.\"

He said he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.

The Associated Press news agency reports that Microsoft, which owns the intellectual property for the game, declined to comment beyond a statement saying: \"We are aware of the situation and it is a tragic case.\"

He looks nuts too...

Original link

( Edited 13.01.2009 19:29 by Echoes221 )

Read about this on /v/ earlier, really shocking. At least it\'s some juicy stuff to add to my Critical Research Media project, but christ there are some lunatics out there.

Guns shouldn\'t be legal in America.

( Edited 13.01.2009 19:32 by SuperLink )

I found this link on JB's new mygamesfeed site!

Well what can I say other than wtf....

This person was clearly fucked in the head pre-Halo 3.

Also, why are they flagging up the fact a game was involved in the dispute so much? I\'m sure just as many headcase-children have killed their parents over teacups, roundabouts and TV remotes. But no, because it\'s a game...

( Edited 13.01.2009 19:42 by TheStratMan )

If I saw him in real life I would kick the crap out of him. Killing his mother over something so stupid, what a d*ck head.

Some people are insane. What a loser.

Guns shouldn't be legal in America.

Because the kid wouldn't have used a knife, baseball bat or something else right? Its the guns fault.

Saying the gun was the problem is almost as bad as saying Halo 3 was.

Most of the possible \"game related\" incidents I\'ve read about have been in situations where a minor has had access to a gun.

The other most common way is by playing an unhealthy amount of games. I\'ve only ever heard of two publicised knifings that were \"game related\".

( Edited 13.01.2009 20:24 by SuperLink )

I agree that guns shouldn't be legal in America...but I also agree that with a nutcase like that, it wouldn't really have made a difference...

Echoes221 said:
A US teenager

I stopped reading after this bit, everything bad always seems to come from them over the pond, fucking nutters. Killing your mother because you couldn\'t play a game?? Get a fucking job and a life, get your own place, buy the game and do what you want, kids today make me damn sick.

Can\'t do the damn quote thing.

( Edited 13.01.2009 20:32 by Im_Neutral )

Im_Neutral said:
I stopped reading after this bit, everything bad always seems to come from them over the pond, fucking nutters.

( Edited 13.01.2009 20:40 by SuperLink )

I also agree, guns should be bannned in the US. There's no need for them.

Im_Neutral said:
Can\'t do the damn quote thing.

It\'s [quote ] [ /quote] (or just press the quote button and put the text in the middle.

Jacob4000 said:
Because the kid wouldn\'t have used a knife, baseball bat or something else right? Its the guns fault.

Saying the gun was the problem is almost as bad as saying Halo 3 was.

( Edited 13.01.2009 22:38 by The cheese. )

What a monster. By the look of the picture i dont thi k that it was his first time killing someone.

Super Sonic said:
What a monster. By the look of the picture i dont thi k that it was his first time killing someone.

Yeah, watch out for the kids with no eyebrows.

Halo 3..... Why not be something more worthy like GTA4.... Now thats something I would have killed my mother over.

It\'s times like these I wonder why noone\'s killed Reggie about Mother 3 yet.

Infact I keep seeing the thread title and thinking it says \"Teenager kills Halo in Mother 3 Row\", although I\'m not quite sure what that means.

( Edited 13.01.2009 23:27 by SuperLink )

SuperLink said:
It's times like these I wonder why noone's killed Reggie about Mother 3 yet.

Infact I keep seeing the thread title and thinking it says "Teenager kills Halo in Mother 3 Row", although I'm not quite sure what that means.

GR781 said:
Guns do make a difference. If he had a knife, it wouldn't have been so quick, his mother might have had a chance of getting away.

Then he waits until they fall asleep. Then he drugs his parents dinner etc.

All I'm saying is that people like this won't be stopped just because they don't have a gun. Its looking at the false cause to read a report like this and than go "well if only they didn't have a gun!"

No, if only their kid wasn't a psychopath that wanted to kill them over a video game.

It was almost certainly a spur of the moment thing, don't you think? In which case, a gun is the worst thing imaginable. I don't know how you can possibly say that having guns is ever a plus.

Well they are cool.

Better graphics than knives.

Am I just about the only one that has the common sense to say; Guns shouldn't be legal anywhere, period.

He looks disgusting, doesn't surprise me one bit.

And guns make these things a whole lot easier, so yeah, it might not've happened if there wasn't a gun because maybe he was too fucking insane to properly plan what, when and where?

knighty said:
It was almost certainly a spur of the moment thing, don't you think? In which case, a gun is the worst thing imaginable. I don't know how you can possibly say that having guns is ever a plus.

Sorry Knighty but

The defence team for Daniel Petric, 17, had argued his addiction to the Halo 3 game, in which players shoot invading aliens, had made him insane.
But the judge rejected this, saying he had planned revenge for weeks.

The gun issue though is a really indepth topic with no clear answers, yes a gun is a tool of murder but is also a tool of defence, as the Republicans say "If you criminalise guns only criminals will have guns".

The UK has outlawed most guns for years but that doesn't stop gun crime from happening and honestly who's house would you prefer to break into? The British house where the only self defence is a cricket bat or a itchen knife or the American house with handguns and a family who train in their usage down the shooting lanes and could probably get you right between the eyes.

GR781 said:
Jacob, noone is saying he couldn't have killed them without guns. The point is basically:

psycopath = dangerous
psycopath with lethal weapon = more dangerous
psycopath with more lethal weapon = even more dangerous

etc.

I'm not trying to argue that a gun did not make this kid more dangerous - merely combating the idea that many people have that somehow if there wasn't a gun this kid wouldn't be the murderer he is. He's a psychopath. The gun was just his means of execution.

It was almost certainly a spur of the moment thing, don't you think?

Report said he'd been planning it for weeks.

Yet if he didn't have easy access to a gun, attempting to murder both of his parents would have been much harder, as they would have been able to overpower him if he was using a knife, and it's harder to do fatal damage with a knife than with a gun.