[News] Can't people at least pick NEWER games to emulate when they kill people?

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Quote:

JOHNSTOWN, Colorado (AP) -- Two teens have been charged with killing the 7-year-old sister of one of them by beating her with imitations of moves from the "Mortal Kombat" video game, prosecutors said.

Lamar Roberts, 17, and Heather Trujillo, 16, were charged as adults on one count each of felony child abuse causing death, state prosecutor Robert Miller said in court documents released Wednesday and filed a day earlier.

According to a police affidavit, the teens were baby-sitting Trujillo's half-sister, Zoe Garcia, on December 6 while the girl's mother was at work.

Zoe lost consciousness and stopped breathing after the teens hit, kicked and body-slammed her, imitating moves used in the video game, the document said.

Trujillo and Roberts tried reviving the girl by putting her under running water and attempting CPR before they called her mother and 911, the affidavits stated. The girl died at a hospital.

An autopsy showed she had a broken wrist, more than 20 bruises, swelling of the brain, and bleeding in her neck muscles and under her spine, the affidavits said.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Margie Martinez said late Wednesday that she did not know whether either teen had an attorney. The teens were being held at the Weld County jail but were not permitted to accept phone calls, Martinez said.

Roberts said he was downstairs playing video games while the sisters wrestled upstairs, police said. But a witness quoted in the affidavit said Roberts told her he had kicked the girl.

The witness told police that Roberts said Zoe had told them to stop wrestling. According to the affidavit, when the witness asked why they didn't stop, he responded, "I don't know; I was drunk."

If convicted, the teens could be sentenced to 48 years in prison.

When Garcia lost consciousness, Roberts and Trujillo tried to wake her up by placing her in a bathtub, the affidavit said. They also cracked open an egg and put it in her mouth to make sure Garcia was not "messing with them."

The teens waited for 15 minutes before contacting police because they were afraid "the cops were going to get mad" because teens were watching a child, the affidavit said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

More importantly, how exactly do you differentiate attacks from one fighting video game to another, especially with vague terms like "hit, kicked and body-slammed"? If the girls were doing flying spear kicks or freezing her or ripping her head and spine clear out of her body I'd have more reason to believe that Mortal Kombat was specifically to blame.

This is just going to be another argument of bad parenting and kids with too much time on their hands versus the susceptible nature of youths to media. Sunrise, sunset.

The question is whether the teens told authorities that they were emulating Mortal Kombat, or just some fighting game. A person with no knowledge of games might have just substituted Mortal Kombat since that's become synonymous with the fighting game genre (much like my dad wouldn't know the difference between a Playstation and an Xbox, so he might call them all Xboxes).

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he responded, "I don't know; I was drunk."

Somehow, I don't think this was the best answer.

It's terrible when things like this happen, but Jack Thompson probably has an "I told you so" expression right about now. It sounds like these kids beat her pretty bad, too - I wonder if they were all drunk.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

The question is whether the teens told authorities that they were emulating Mortal Kombat, or just some fighting game.

You might be right, the authorities might have just equate fighting games to Mortal Kombat since it's been in the media before. Could have been a misunderstanding, but it's not fair to companies like Midway to put them through any grief over this just because they needed a franchise name to scapegoat here.

I guess saying Fatality would be bad taste?
However, they could've blamed rock 'n roll too. I wouldn't point fingers at gaming, if I heard some idiot kicked someone.

I can imagine the horrifying scene. The little girl was probably screaming and crying, especially when they broke her wrist. She probably begged them to stop, but they didn't. They broke her bones and they still didn't stop, crying, begging, pleading, that was until she became conscious. Even then they didn't really stop. They continued on with the harassment because they thought she was "faking it".

I can definitely see how easy it was for a couple of older teenagers to destroy the frail body of a 7-year -old little girl, especially while they were intoxicated.

How would you feel if you killed your own little [half] sister?



The saddest part is that she was a very attractive female before she ruined her life by (accidentally?) killing her sister. Very pretty, especially the way her tears light up her eyes.

All fingers pointing to 'video game related' go right out the window with the kids being drunk.

'nuff said.

This is beyond stupid... there is no way that a 17 and a 16 year old can't realize the kind of damage this stuff is going to do to a 7 year old, unless they're retarded.

As for the whole NEWER games thing in the subject title. Don't forget Mortal Kombat: Armageddon wasn't released on the Wii till earlier this year.

Nah these kids were poor. They couldn't afford a Wii.

Originally Posted by Divest

Nah these kids were poor. They couldn't afford a Wii.

Which means they probably had outdated games, so it still kinda defeats the topic title...

Nevermind, they had a wii. Especially if the kid next door had a good christmas last year.

Like, clearly, Super Mario is to blame. You stomp goombas and body slam koopa shells in it.

What is an innocent looking Spanish girl doing with that ugly black guy.

It's terrible what happened to the little girl, but I can't help but laugh at these ridiculous circumstances. It's like seeing someone accidentally riding a Razor scooter into a meat grinder or something. What are you gonna do.

Originally Posted by Divest

The saddest part is that she was a very attractive female before she ruined her life by (accidentally?) killing her sister. Very pretty, especially the way her tears light up her eyes.

You are officially creepier than Harle, VG, and yama combined.

RR --
I'd hit it with a bestiality fatality.

Honestly, when I saw the words "hit, kick, and body slam", I was half surprised this wasn't another "look, pro wrestling is bad" thing. Then again, maybe they decided to give pro wrestling a rest given the year it has been.

The thing is, all they needed to do was a mention a game, and that game would get the heat. If they didn't put the blame on the game, then others certainly would.

Originally Posted by Divest

I can imagine the horrifying scene. The little girl was probably screaming and crying, especially when they broke her wrist. She probably begged them to stop, but they didn't. They broke her bones and they still didn't stop, crying, begging, pleading, that was until she became conscious. Even then they didn't really stop. They continued on with the harassment because they thought she was "faking it".

I can definitely see how easy it was for a couple of older teenagers to destroy the frail body of a 7-year -old little girl, especially while they were intoxicated.

The teenagers weren't drunk. Frankly, I'd charge them with manslaughter. Child ABUSE causing death? Really? You can't just go with manslaughter?

This whole topic is disgusting. I can't believe this even happened. I could care less if it was blamed on video games. Who gives a fuck about video games when a girl is murdered. This is crazy.

Here's the more up-to-date version of that story:

Quote:

JOHNSTOWN, Colorado (AP) -- Two teens have been charged with killing the 7-year-old sister of one of them by beating her with imitations of moves from the "Super Smash Bros. Melee" video game, prosecutors said.

Dylan Tnga, 17, and Heather Trujillo, 16, were charged as adults on one count each of felony child abuse causing death, state prosecutor Robert Miller said in court documents released Wednesday and filed a day earlier.

According to a police affidavit, the teens were baby-sitting Trujillo's half-sister, Zoe Garcia, on December 6 while the girl's mother was at work.

Zoe lost consciousness and stopped breathing after the teens wavedashed, L-cancelled and spiked her, imitating moves used in the video game, the document said.

The witness told police that Tnga said Zoe had told them to stop being tourneyfags. According to the affidavit, when the witness asked why they didn't stop, he responded, "I don't know; she was a fucking scrub."

Originally Posted by Divest

I can imagine the horrifying scene. The little girl was probably screaming and crying, especially when they broke her wrist. She probably b