I guess noone here has the full story as it's being reported elsewhere?
Skip the rest of this post if you don't want the rest of the story... sorry it's so long-winded.
The kid was bed-ridden for a year due to a really bad infection of a snowboarding injury, just before this happened. He spent that year playing his xbox.. Halo 2, some other games, and Xbox live (and watching tv). For the record, he was also homeschooled for many years at this location before attending high school for a year (or two?). It was very much his home.
As he recovered, and was no longer confined to his bed, he was at least borderline addicted to video games in general. His father refused to let him have Halo 3, calling the game too violent (Dad's a priest, remember?).
SO..he spent the night at a friend's house a lot, and played Halo 3 on their system. Then somewhere down the line, he apparently figured that his parent's wouldn't even notice if he went and got Halo 3. He went and got it and snuck it into his house. Noone's said how long he had it before he was caught with it, but they took the game from him, kicked him out of the house, and put the game into the same locked box that the gun was in.
They kicked the minor out of the house for playing a video game that he was told not to play.
Later, he came back to get the game. His parents weren't in bed, they were on the couch, expecting their daughter (the boy's older sister) to show-up to watch the football game on tv.
The father states that "somehow" the boy managed to find the key to the lockbox containing both, the game, and the gun. He took out both the game, and the gun, and proceeded to shoot his parents gangland style. Testimony from his father stated that he said the whole "close your eyes, I've got a surprise".. (the article you guys found repeated that part).
4 shots went off. His mom had secondary wounds to her arms where she had brought them up to protect her face. Dad was shot first, mom was shot second. The kid pushed the gun into his father's hand, and father's testimony says "He said "take it dad.. it's your gun, go on, take it."
Then the doorbell rang, it was the kid's older sister. THe kid met them at the door saying, "oh man, this isn't a good idea.. mom and dad are in there fighting like REALLY bad.." Sister, and her hubby, didn't buy it because they could hear dad groaning on the couch. THey pushed past him as the kid ran out to the family van, threw the Halo 3 game onto the passenger seat, and started driving back to his friend's house where he'd been living after getting kicked out by his parents.
C'mon.. IF there was a game that might have influenced his behavior more than his parents kicking him out for playing video games, it would have to be a more gangster kinda' thing like GTA, or Saints Row, or maybe the tv show 24. Halo 3's involvement isn't even direct.
The judge is an asshat for stating that he partially blamed the situation on Bungie, for making such a violent game in a universe where people can't die.
The parents are asshats for assuming the Halo 3 "maturity" sticker was any worse than Halo 2's maturity sticker, and for kicking him out. THere are a lot of ways of correcting a kid's behavior that don't involve booting them to the street. If he had an addiction, then perhaps he needed assistance in overcoming it.
However.. the big thing is.. I suspect dad and son are both covering up the fact that his dad gave him the key to access his game, not expecting him to bring in the gun that was in there with it. Dad says "somehow he found the key" to his loaded gun and video game. Sure.. and you were expecting a lovely surprise from the boy that wasn't supposed to live there anymore because you'd kicked him out?
Children we are supposed to be taught to respect firearms and what they can do, especially if they have one in their homes. If all we get instead are games that reward shooting people, then perhaps it sends the wrong message. However, not only did that boy know that death was permanent, he knew that what he was doing was wrong. He's following the lead of a defense attourney when he goes along with the whole "I thought they would respawn" thing.
Dad was doing everything he could to suggest that his son should be able to come home now, and how he's forgiven his son. He doesn't dare cross him, since the boy could say that his dad gave him the key. I'm sure the dad's lawyer has already made it clear that the boy might say that out of anger anyways.
The news media tries to point at the videogame, and erases everything else having to do with the story. THIS is why the media sucks, and it's funny, but the real finger that needs to be pointed here, is the one that points at the journalists who take events like this and make them larger than life rather than relating the events.
Most movies, stories, and games, have a storyline that includes the bad guys getting punished in such a way that seems like a karmic payback. In real life, not so much, and it's the media storm which presents how evil or foul a target is, but they still try and sell a story based on it's shock value, rather than just tell the damn story.
In this instance, that news source had no story substance other than enough to implicate (in their minds at least) Halo 3 in youth violence. So the folks that don't know any better, walk away with that info.. thinking how horrible the game must be, etc. The reality is that they didn't want anyone to say.. "no.. hang on, the kid's an adult in a year.. how can it be the video game's fault that he doesn't understand reality." or distracted with "Hey.. dad's a jackass priest with a loaded gun and a locked-up game that his almost adult son can't have because you were unable to raise him."
No, instead, they want you to think Bungie is the reason this stuff happened.. it's ridiculous.
