Dad Shoots Son Over Xbox 360 Argument
By William on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 9:46 AM PST In Game Consoles, Gamer Life, Microsoft, Microsoft
Unfortunately, this weekend included another video game related shooting. In Monroe County, Pennsylvania, police are reporting that a father shot his son over an Xbox 360 argument.
The 17-year-old son wanted his father, James Stanley Niedosik, 60, to take a look at a game he was playing on his Xbox 360 on Friday night. The father refused and an argument ensued. Apparently the son handed a .22 rifle to the father and demanded that he shoot him. The father complied with the request, resulting in the boy havving a .22 caliber bullet lodged in his skull and the father behind bars.
The boy survived the shooting and is currently being treated in the hospital. The father is behind bars in Monroe County Prison on a $250,000 bail. charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, simple assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. I’m surprised he wasn’t charged with attempted murder.
“One’s in jail, one’s in the hospital,” Jeanie Niedosik, James’ ex-wife and the boy’s mother told The Morning Call. “I won’t know exactly what happened until I talk to [my son]. He’s incoherent yet; they have him heavily sedated.”
Although this crime involved an Xbox 360, I don’t think we can consider this a crime caused by video games. Obviously there was something wrong with the entire family to begin with. The boy’s mother maintains that the shooting was probably accidental.
Via GameRush
What the heck?
Video games have absolutely nothing to do with this.
Who asks to be shot, and then what father actually shoots him?
I hope the son is 18+
Hmmm, you wouldn’t get this with a Nintendo console, at least, not with a gun. For two reasons:
1) The old person would be playing it anyhow.
2) Instead of a gun, rainbox coloured sugar would be shot out of the tube, but neatly land in front of the son.
It’s the Wii-way.
Ahem, seriously, this is pretty screwed up. I’m waiting to see how the press make out of this.
oh wait, i read he was 17…
christ what idiots.
this isn’t the fault of video games, it’s the fault of sheer stupidity in action.
Its got nothing to do with video games but everything to do with Americas dumbass gun laws.
almost a darwin award … so close…
is this is a joke wtf
So because the words xbox 360 was used that makes it a video game crime?
What if the son said come and check out my new car I got, would that make it a car crime?
squishface,
sort of… it is a video game related crime considering the Xbox 360 console was allegedly the catalyst that fueled the argument. Now I wouldn’t say it was a crime caused by video games.
It’s kind of like if someone gets shot doing a crack deal. It’s a crack related crime, whether the crack was the bottom-line cause or not.
Who the hell asks to get shot in the first place?
Does anyone else find the tone of this article quite inapropriate. along with the photo its quite chilling how a shooting can get such a light report. the kid almost died, he still might. this is quite horifying!
This is barely a “video game related shooting.” They could have been arguing over a peanut butter sandwich for all that video gaming has to do with this story.
Frankly, the gaming media is as much to blame for video gaming getting a bad rap as Jack Thompson when a story like this is reported as a “video game related shooting.”
Never mind. My bad.
The ex-wife/mother are the same person!
Rorkimaru,
I’m sorry if you feel the tone is light on this article. I didn’t feel like making it an over emotional piece. This article really had little to do with my opinion.. I was just reporting on the story.
Of course I think any kind of family violence is terrible, but with some articles there’s simply no need for me to insert my personal feelings on the subject.
I think there are certain kinds of acceptable family violence, you know, like spankings, or rough housing, or you know, accidents.
or you know, rough sex.
but enough about that.