When, back in the day, ‘Final Fantasy VII‘ was accused of causing the katana murder, all gamers came out in unison to say it was nonsense and that video games would never make anyone violent. Years later, after the advent of online gaming, we might want to retract our support for the gaming world. However, if we want a definitive argument against video games, nothing – I repeat: nothing – can equal this story where a very loud volume turned into a massacre worthy of Quentin Tarantino.
Bang Hero
It all started on October 4th, around 7 PM, in a house in Philadelphia, where a 12-year-old boy and his 42-year-old father, Michael Hwang, began arguing about the volume of a video game (it hasn’t been disclosed which one, but let’s imagine it was ‘Starfield‘, for example). The argument escalated, and an uncle, who was present in the house, tried to calm them down. It didn’t work. In fact, it worsened the situation, and the dispute reached a point where the father fired a .40-caliber Glock pistol (to put it plainly: it packs a punch) inside the house. Hopefully, this would be the end of the story.
The shot didn’t injure anyone or cause any damage, but it was enough for the uncle and the son to try to escape from Hwang by hiding upstairs. He followed them and shot the uncle in the face. Something tells me the child won’t be getting near a console for a very long time. When the police arrived, Hwang was waiting for them wearing a bulletproof vest and holding the gun, and he started shooting at the officers, who ended up killing him. For whatever reason.
In total: three police officers injured, the uncle in critical condition, and the father dead. It’s also true, and it needs to be said, that Hwang was already known to the police department for his erratic behavior, and it probably had more to do with a confrontation that escalated rather than the video game itself. The next time you want to ask someone to wear headphones or lower the volume, just in case, make sure to hide all the weapons well, lest the example spreads.
