Craig Hill
KC Hill
Paladin
Oracle of DelphiThe Xbox Murders
July 26th 2006 10:08
6 people and 2 dogs were found dead in a Deltona apartment in early August 2004. They had been stabbed and beaten to death with baseball bats. Their bodies were mutilated.
What caused this gruesome murder? What sparked this unbelievable waste of innocent human life?
One word.
Xbox.
According to Prosecutors, 27-year-old Troy Victorino was angry with one of his victims, Erin Belanger. She had evicted him from her grandmother’s home and had kept some of his personal belongings including his Xbox video game system.
But instead of requesting for the return of his belongings in a pleasant, gentleman-like manner, he gathered some friends, several baseball bats and indulged in a bloodbath of senseless killings.
Troy Victorino, Michael Salas and Jerome Hunter were recently convicted of first-degree murder. The prosecution are pushing for the death penalty however it is up to the jury to decide whether a life sentence or death by lethal injection is more appropriate. The decision will be made early next week.
This case has made way for public discussion about videogame-related violence. There are some who believe that only those so influenced by the violence in videogames could be capable of committing such heinous crimes. There are others who believe that if Miss Belanger had kept a roll of extra-soft Sorbent toilet paper or a can of Campbell’s chunky tomato soup, the outcome would have still been the same.
I often put forward the argument that videogames are making our children more stupid and aggressive by the minute. So as much as I would love to blame the creators of R-rated videogames for this tragedy, the truth is that in the absence of evidence linking the violent behaviour to the games, these murders can only be put down to the sick individuals who committed the crimes.
*the image used in this post is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license. The terms and conditions of the license can be read here.
What caused this gruesome murder? What sparked this unbelievable waste of innocent human life?
One word.
Xbox.
Microsoft Xbox 360
According to Prosecutors, 27-year-old Troy Victorino was angry with one of his victims, Erin Belanger. She had evicted him from her grandmother’s home and had kept some of his personal belongings including his Xbox video game system.
But instead of requesting for the return of his belongings in a pleasant, gentleman-like manner, he gathered some friends, several baseball bats and indulged in a bloodbath of senseless killings.
Troy Victorino, Michael Salas and Jerome Hunter were recently convicted of first-degree murder. The prosecution are pushing for the death penalty however it is up to the jury to decide whether a life sentence or death by lethal injection is more appropriate. The decision will be made early next week.
This case has made way for public discussion about videogame-related violence. There are some who believe that only those so influenced by the violence in videogames could be capable of committing such heinous crimes. There are others who believe that if Miss Belanger had kept a roll of extra-soft Sorbent toilet paper or a can of Campbell’s chunky tomato soup, the outcome would have still been the same.
I often put forward the argument that videogames are making our children more stupid and aggressive by the minute. So as much as I would love to blame the creators of R-rated videogames for this tragedy, the truth is that in the absence of evidence linking the violent behaviour to the games, these murders can only be put down to the sick individuals who committed the crimes.
*the image used in this post is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license. The terms and conditions of the license can be read here.
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