Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson

Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson

April 23, 2007
Anti-game attorney Jack Thompson said in a Sunday press release that a 14-year-old boy in Marin County, California had been arrested by local police for making a threat against the University of California Berkeley campus.

As described by Thompson, he received the following e-mail on Saturday morning:
Hello, Jack Thompson.

I am going to shoot 20-30 people at my school, UC Berkeley, but I am not sure on what gun to use. Any suggestions? I am also looking for a game to train with. Do you have any ideas? I am fairly new to this.

Thank you for your time.

The attorney turned the e-mail over to police in California who arrested the boy and served a search warrant at his residence.

UPDATE: UC Berkeley's school paper, The Daily Californian has confirmation on Thompson's claim. Said a police spokesman:
Basically, we determined the 14-year-old did not have the means or will to carry out the threat. But, even when these things turn out to be hoaxes, we take them seriously.

The teenage suspect has a pending appearance in juvenile court. The Marin Indepedent Journal has more.

Comments

[...] And how about this: Frustrated with Thompson’s antics, a 14-year-old gamer wrote him a satirical email: [...]
KotatsuNeko has it right. Stop feeding his idiocy, people. You're not going to get a message through to him. His brain isn't wired for logic. Let it go.

With regard to the letter: Yes, it was stupid. No, it's not protected speech, even in sarcasm - you'd be treading a very fine line to try to claim parody protection. The kid (if he's real - JT has faked this sort of thing in the past, if I remember correctly) should get a good talking-to by the cops, to impress upon him that this is NOT acceptible behavior. And, as a 14-year-old, he's not going to get even a quarter of the punishment that an adult would, so I'd say it's all good.
What a dumbass. Not only is that pretty tasteless and poorly-timed, he's an idiot for not knowing that death threats are taken very seriously.
[...] Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson Enlace Permanente | Enviar por email a un amigo Más anotaciones de: General,Cultura [...]
Classic! Couldn't he see it was clearly sarcasm? Yes, investigation was appropriate, but judging by his comments he obviously didn't get the joke! :P
Jack Thompson; only detecting sarcasm when its in his best interests.
@jonwanker

Like Scoops said, we don't know. I have an interest in things like this, serial killers and the likes. When someone says they're going to kill 20 or 30 people, it should always be taken as seriously as possible. Because you don't know.

We assume he was making a (terrible) joke. But you can't be certain of that. People who go out and mass murder, and serial killers, the thing that's common among them is you don't know. I'm assuming it's sarcasm as well, but in the end, that's all it is; an assumption.

And this kid should be thrown into some kind of disciplinary institution. If anyone should use discretion, it should be that damn idiot of a kid. Sure, at that age, they can do some rather stupid things, but that just pushed the line.

@Timothy

There are more than one way to find out things like that than just a newspaper. It may never make the paper, but that does not mean someone couldn't use it against us. It's a bad image gamers don't want, so we ARE an involved party, because it can turn into a false reflection of us. This is the opposite of how we should confront critics, and this kid had the balls, but not the brains to think it through, to do more harm than good.
[...] Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson [GamePolitics] [...]
[...] Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson [GamePolitics] [...]
Joe Bourrie: I had not considered the overall ramifications of gamer stereotypes as they related to the industry and overall public view of gamers. Science has started to win out over personal agendas, meanwhile the industry has a grand winning streak against the legislation passed against it. What I guess I'm saying is I believe in the fate of this technology being probed, as it was already done so and the willingness of politicians to do cheap political stunts for easy votes.

The best way for gamers to combat bad PR is by proactively and regularly engage their representatives, editorials and voting booths. Some schmo being arrested in a town where that arrest is not even covered by the newspaper probably doesn't do much to anyone besides the parties involved.

If you'll forgive me for calling your post whiney, I'll forgive you for writing it to be too ironic and straight to be caught. Deal?
@Wolf

You can't be serious. First off, that second line about looking for a game to train on is obviously a sarcastic shot at Jacko. Secondly, if we were to arrest and send every stupid 14 yr old kid to a "disciplinary institution" (which in reality just makes them more fucked up), then there'd be more kids in juvie then there are actual criminals in jails. We'd be sending every 14 yr old this side of neverland away. I don't know about, you, but this kid doesn't seem that bad to me. This is pretty normal teenage rebellion stuff, I know I was just as bad or worse when I was 14.

If I was a cop and Jacko called me up about this, the most I'd do is tell the kid's parents, and give Jacko a stern talk about wasting police time.
@toxicity
Ignorance does not equal stupidity neither does poor taste. He SHOULD be able to get away with this sort of thing, and he may get away with this, and you know just as well as I know that if columbine and virginia tech massacres did not happen (or didn't cause as much paranoia) this letter would not be taken seriously for a minute.
Great. That little stunt has just given JT more excuses to attack the gaming community, and strengthen his unproven link with game violence.

I'm following the developments of this JT vs. Game Violence debate for my MA project, and will eventually develop a video documentary/debate. However, I need comments like these spoken out loud to include in the video.

I'm going to be holding several online focus group talks about this via SkyPE. If you want to have a voice, message me on RakuraiMedia1 on Youtube. More info can be found on my livejournal blog.
Umm. People, duh.

He said he wanted Jack Thompson to recommend a video game for him to train on. Anyone who reads that as less than absolutely sarcastic is far more stupid than the kid. And for christ's sake, he's just a kid. Get off his back. Jack Thompson is a grown man who practically believes in fairies.
Alright! Thanks a lot to you fellas for the address, here's my email, pick and prod at it, I'm going off of personal knowledge and experiences, and tried to be as accurate as possible.

Dear Mr. Thompson,

I am what is known as a recreational gamer, who has repeatedly heard your name on news, game media, and talk with other gamers. I am saddened by your constant assault upon the gaming community. And I would like to take this opportunity to point out many flaws in your theories. My largest concern is your constant one sided views on gaming. I have played games since I was 15. I am a normal college student, who in fact is currently pursuing a private pilots license, and who plays many violent video games. Or as you prefer to call them, murder simulators. To tell the truth, I have been bullied near my entire teenage and close to my adult life, made fun of, looked down upon, and I have found these games, such as Grand Theft Auto, Doom 3, America's Army, to actually help me calm down, to relax me and allow me a time to think and clear my head. They have been stress relievers, they have been distracting efforts from points of stress, and they have helped me cool my head. My father even plays video games, though he has only recently gotten into it. I am 22 years of age, pretty damn weak, and often never violent. Yet your constant portrayal of games and gamers, truly is untrue, yes there are the loud mouthed morons that play and cuss and are ill advised to play with, but that is a vast minority. I am of the majority, the intelligent, hopeful, kind of gamer that loves to enjoy a good game that let's us step back from the stress of the day and relax. Now, onto your theories. One that you constantly bring up is how shooters "Train" on First Person Shooters (Or FPSs for short). This is physically impossible, having played many FPSs and having fired a .45 colt semi-automatic pistol, a .38 cal. revolver, a 7.62 WW2 era Soviet combat Rifle, an AK-47 Soviet designed Assault Rifle, and a .22 cal. single shot bolt action rifle, I can say this freely and easily that it is impossible to train one's self on a computer simulation for the use of any, I repeat ANY, firearm. The only way the could possibly train is through the military or through the Police force, both of which require mental evaluations. There is a difference between computer games and actual fire arms, a very large difference. That difference is the fact that the physical act of firing a firearm is no where near as easy as it is to click a button on a mouse. All games can do is show the bucking and firing of a weapon. Nothing more, Sure it can show you how the simulated recoil can react, but that is nothing compared to the actual act of the weapon, in the hands of an inexperience shooter, that weapon can pose a huge threat to the shooter himself. The recoil could be so much more than what he is expecting that it could buck back and smack him in the forehead, break his shoulder or even fly out of his hand. This alone should be enough to prove that theory wrong. Another problem I have is your constant use of the term "Murder Simulators," this may make some sense in the terms of GTA, which I must point out penalizes you for the injury of innocents and police, but most games place a good guy, against terrorists or criminals, or even aliens or terrestrial threats. Another point I must state is that blaming games for acts of violence is never, NEVER targeting the source of the problem, which could be any number of things, including bullies at the school, problems with finances, problems with family members, or any other number of things OTHER than gaming. In the end, it's up to the parents to decide what games are right and wrong for their kids, and all you are doing is providing a scape goat for these parents when something goes wrong, horribly wrong. That's all I feel I can really sat at this time, until I can find more of your theories that I can hopefully point out as wrong.

You Mr. Thompson claim you are an advocate for the first amendment, yet you continually attempt to deny others from expressing and using that first amendment. You are a representative of the law Mr. Thompson, yet so far you have insulted it. I ask you sir, as a concerned citizen, why? Why do you do what you do? You say that it's for the betterment of our children? Sir, this is a weak statement, children will find violence in many other forms, street gangs, drugs, school bullies, abusive parents. Video games are a weak excuse for causing violence. I plead to you Mr. Thompson, stop this now. It's horrible, disgraceful, and it only makes you look the fool in the end. I have loved gaming for many years, I will continue to love gaming for many more. There are games with huge worlds, games with ideas that enthrall me, there's a game that is to come out later this year that is based around Norse Mythology, a subject I am greatly entertained by, and I hope to play it, and its later installments, but you Mr. Thompson seem to want to hold that away from me, just because it has the use of weapons, and adult themed ideas, such as death, or destruction. It's a truly saddening thing to see the law twisted and worked like it is being today. So please Mr. Thompson, consider your actions before you commit them.

Sincerely,

A concerned Citizen
Stupid thing to joke about. Do us a favour, folks - don't use the tragedy to push a pro-games agenda the same way JT is pushing his anti one. It's hypocrisy and does nothing useful.
nothing to say just Baine tould you all, I am a maltese guy entitled with the UN army - i have been playing games from the age of 9 - presently I have 24 years of age.
While I was doing the basic arms training at the age of 22, I found it rather diffucult handling guns (and I play FPS only), so please Jack Thompson SHUT THE FUCK UP - go to play WoW.
@ Baine

amendmentone@comcast.net

But he tends to pick out one tiny bit thats easiest to make a snarky comment about, and ignore the rest. He wouldn't acknowledge any points I was making or anything. So don't expect to much, no matter how well written your email is.
"The attorney turned the e-mail over to police in California who arrested the boy and served a search warrant at his residence"

........who found absloutly nothing. I hope.

- Warren Lewis
Could someone tell me how to get in contact with Jack Thompson? I've got a lengthy email disproving some of his theories and I'd like him to view it. It's been a long time since I wrote this much. And yeah, I've been reeeeaaaallly tired of him for a while.
Sarcasm. Bad sarcasm, but still...
There's got to be a way to turn that sarcastic potshot into something that couldn't be construed as a threat. Something like, "I'm in the army and trying to improve my marksmanship scores..."
[...] According to everyone’s favorite special interest blog, GamePolitics.com, a boy in California sent a clearly tongue-in-cheek-but-in-questionable-taste email to Jack Thompson threatening to “shoot 20-30 people” at UC Berkeley. He continues to ask “what gun to use” and states “I am also looking for a game to train on”. [...]
yea please give it to us so we can tell him how we feel. INTELIGENLY!
I doubt Jackson knew the kid was 14 from the e-mail and it's better to err on the side of caution when someone says 'I'm gonna shoot people'. Sure, it may seem like obvious sattire but bear in mind two things.

1) We obviously don't share Jacky's opinion on much.
2) What if it wasn't and you laughed it off?

The kid's only 14. I imagine he'll just have an uncomfortable time in jail, an uncomfortable time in court, and an uncomfortable time with his parents. He's learned a lesson about being a smartass, at least.
"@griff

Acutally he would need to make it 100% clear that he was not serious about that threat.
"

He might be able to scrape by on that by pointing out that he said in his e-mail that "my school" was a university... *shrug*
Quality and humor value in the email aside, this letter was obvious satire that got taken way too seriously. If the police wanted to come by and question the boy, that's fine. That's exactly how this should have been handled, but an arrest is way over the top. The kid lacked judgment, but that's part of being a teenager, (no offense to other, brighter teenagers.)

This isn't a big deal but will probably be treated as one.
I second the post that said Jack knew exactly what this was, but reported it out an act of pettiness.
@baine

I think it's amendmentone@comcast.[something]

An attempt at irony, I think.
I laughed. It was funny satire and blatantly obvious sarcasm. They won't touch the kid.
@Roger

Why? because he's a stupid kid. The gaming community is much like most other communities when it comes to diversity, and like all other communities we have our fair share of idiots. They take on actions that are just plain stupid and often do not realize the possible consequences of their actions (specifically that making threats, whether real or not, is against the law and can get you in serious trouble). They think their being big shots, that they're getting in JT's face, when all they are really doing is making the rest of us look bad. It's just stupid and immature behavior.

@griff

Acutally he would need to make it 100% clear that he was not serious about that threat. Making threats, idol or not is NOT protected speech.
Note to all: Copycat threats are NOT cool. Not even TV personalities can get away with it.

This email really sits on the fence between threat and parody, leaning more on the side of "threat". I think the only way to see this through will be in front of a judge and then in front of a therapist, because that's exactly where this kid's going to end up.

Is it just me, or is it that internet junkies tend to not see a real effect when something major like the VA Tech shootings happens? 4chan is my example, a site almost synonymous with anonymous disregard for tragedies. Just a side-thought.
Jacko sent me a press release thingy of his with this in it, I responded by saying that he should understand satire and sarcasm after the Penny Arcade Incident. His response: "we had the story wrong"

Seriously, this is just a sarcastic email gone wrong. So much for free speech, I guess. Sure it's "heightened sensitivity", but a joke is a joke, and their is no way anyone should be able to mistake this email for real, given who it was sent to.
Well considering the kid is 14 and claimed that he was going to shoot at "his" school which he said was a University, unless 14 year olds routinely go to University in California, in which case I wasted years up here in Canada, I could've been a doctor by 20. I'm pretty sure it was a joke, a terrible terrible joke.
A judge may look at it then lambaste the kid for being so damned stupid then send him on his way with some community service possibly house arrest. This may qualify as terroristic threats, not really sure how thats defined. The kid did something very stupid and childish, it should be dealt with accordingly.

However Jacks response was equally childish. Jack is going to claim the kid was actually going to do it. Jack will claim that this kids represents gamers. jack will... Nothing new really.
Jack is going to grasp for straws at every juncture, really were just giving him rope to hang himself with. Every time we give him to much though, he digs a deeper hole to jump into.

If he wants my IP fine,as always let him sue me, he will rather quickly make the jury hate him if it even went to court. Pay my court cost maybe even compensate me for my time.

The kids won't get off the hook, joke or not he made a threat during a time of heightened sensitivity. He whispered fire in a strangers ear during the movie, and there is an arsonist on the loose that likes setting cinemas on fire, hit 3 already the same week.
LMAO, gold star for the moron kid.
btw, for anyone wondering if this might not have been a joke (some comments seemed kinda uncertain), remember that this is a 14-year-old kid threatening a college campus. Something of a stretch, there.

GG, Jack, you moral tour-de-force, you
why! why the FUCK MUST YOU RUIN US! my fucking GOD!!!!!!! people like this are giving jack fodder! this is war! we need to win this and this is NOT HELPING DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we are screwed! i...i just don't know...what are we gonna do. i guess people don't have half a brain and must ruin it. don't let anger make you say stupid things that can hurt the cause...
For christ sake...I could do the same thing, and say that "What I say is protected under the 1st amendment, because I'm protesting against your own accusations of gamers." Thats all he had to f***ing say to get off the hook! I'm really gettin fumed on this half-ass of a lawyer.
Wow, that wasn't a very well thought out joke by that kid.

Assuming he exists and everything actually happened the way Thompson described it.
Honestly. I have to admit that I feel for the kid. It was dumb, and a bit insensitive considering the kind of pressing proximity to VT, but the joke reminds me a lot of common jokes like "Tetris Made Me Do It!" et all. The worst part, really, though, is that he just, whether he intended to or not, gave JT some fodder to throw at the press. The last thing we need is more credibility for the guy.
Wow...Way to be a dumbass.

Attention Idiots - DO NOT MAKE THREATS!!! Even if sarcastic. It's not funny and the only possible outcome is going to be a negative one.
Shoulda sent it from behind a proxy with a fake email account. I lol'd though.
That was... definitely not the smartest thing to do...

I mean, I feel for him, but he should've known JT would retaliate given ammo. Anyone else remember when he tried to get Penny Arcade for "harassing" him? Not that anything actually CAME of that...
I think that this was a tastless and pointless joke on this kid's part, but who was more childish here? Jack knew what this was, it was just a joke. I'm sure he feels like a real big shot now. some kid tried to hurt Jack's feelings, so he hurt the kid back. You can't honestly tell me that he took this threat seriously can you? Jack relished this, he only wanted to get some kid in trouble. He's done this aort of thing before. In fact part of the reason he was banned from posting on this site was because he started demanding IP addresses and threatening legal action with virtually every person who ever posted on this site. He'll probably start claiming he thwarted an attack now too!
Leave the kids alone Jack.
Talk about bad timing and judgement. Quite tasteless too (in my opinion).

But this was probably meant as an sarcastic comment to Mr J now his "games did it" argument falls flat.

I wonder if it is real though. Does anyone have some more info on this?
Do you think he could get off by using Jack's method, claim it was intended to be satire? Sorry, couldn't resist the cheap shot. But seriously I doubt this kid is serious, nor is he right in the way he went about doing this. If he wanted a less harmful joke he could've claimed he was a trained medical professional because he beat the Trauma Center games, or he could've tried to show up Jack by beating Phoenix Wright...
Leave it to a 14-year old to ruin things for the rest of us.
I dunno, stupid thing to say, the kid deserves a bloody good scare from the Police and have his life made hell by his parents for doing it, and he should have known better in the first place, but I'd not be amused if Jack did anything to damage this boys future, that would be pure vindictiveness.

To be honest, I have far better and more productive things to do than Email Thompson, I might as well try to convince Castro to give 'Democracy a go'.

It's kinda funny that this is the level Thompson is now stooping to though, if this is his body of evidence, i.e. 14 year olds who can't tell the difference between an Internet joke and a letter to a lawyer who is mancally obsessed with finding fault with gamers, then it suggests to me that he's clutching at straws for his 'links' now.

He always parades these arrests around as though he has performed some public service though, he hurls off insults indiscriminately, putting his Email address at the bottom of his posts, knowing full well that some immature idiot is going to think he's too good to get caught, and then acts as though he single handedly defeated the Taliban when he gets a bite.

Sorry, but this says as much to me about Thompson as it does about the idiot who Emailed him.
It's "kitteh" from www.hiprmod.com rofl

head over to the boards and say hello lol
what a dumbass
@Timothy
I really don't want this to be a flame war, but I chuckled a bit when I read your post.

"Damage? To the game industry? The only real damage done are these whiney posts to the “gamer” population."

Scoops just said it all above... as an indie game designer, a professional game programmer, and an avid gamer, I am furious that my name is being tarnished by some idiot kid thinking he's clever. Now we have to spend more time, effort, and money defending ourselves against this constant barrage of political attacked fueled by morons just like this.

So yeah, this damages the industry.

And congrats on the attempt at slandering me by referring to my post as "whiney". I'm glad you didn't take the time to actually use logic to contradict me, I don't think I'm up for any real "thought" right now.

"Also, your post is ironic."

Good, I'm glad you caught on. Next time maybe you'll even see the attempt at deadpan humor as well.
My thoughts? pretty simple really:

That was a clever little letter, now never do it again.
@Timothy

How can this damage the game industry? It gives Laddy Jack one more semi-credible thing to point to. One more instance of him being able to say, to a national media audience, "Look what kind of people these gamers are. Look what these games do to people. There oughta be a law."

He makes up enough stupid shit about gamers on his own, we don't need to help him in his demented quest. Frankly, the only thing that surprises me is that we don't hear about more of this.

As an aside, what is it that people find funny about this? Just the fact that he's making fun of Jack?
Anyone have JT's current email?
Okay. Y'know, I just want to ask... why does the gaming community keep contacting Jacko in the *first* place? We can't convince him of our point of view, we can't trust him to give us factual information, he refuses to have a intelligent conversation or debate (with *anyone*, least of all us), he always stoops to name-calling, and he's not the slightest bit interested in anything we have to say. It accomplishes *nothing*. All we ever manage to do is add fuel to the fire of his self-righteous indignation, and then when some moron does crap like this he's handed some fresh ammunition.

I have a suggestion: if you want to send him any kind of correspondence, ask yourself: WWJD? That's 'What Wouldn't Jack Do?', which would be 'take the ethical high road'. We're better than him. Let's prove that by not stooping to his level.
The Kotaku article actually refers to this case as well.

If John Bruce merely wanted to legislate video games, then the context of this letter wouldn't make sense.

Yet, most notably in the past week, John Bruce's blatant accusations that violent video games cause school shootings, the context of the letter as being sarcastic is clear. Most notably in the portion about asking John Bruce's opinion about what game to train on.

In fact, without that line, it would be less viewed as sarcasm. Which is why it is very easy for an intelligent person to see it as sarcasm. Indeed, despite not being very intelligent, it's most likely that John Bruce recognized the sarcasm, but as usual, set out to use and abuse through misinformation and deceit regarding the context of the letter just for his own personal, religious, and/or political agendas.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Joe Bourrie:
"F him, this kid deserves to be fined for the damage he just did to the game industry.

this kid deserves to be castrated so he can’t make any mini-dipshits.
I really, really want to punch this kid."

Damage? To the game industry? The only real damage done are these whiney posts to the "gamer" population.

Also, your post is ironic.
Ok the proper thing the child should have done when writing the letter is to use the name of a school that doesn't exist, and maybe it should be immediately obvious he made up the name of the school, such as the l33t school for nerds and freaks, Sitting duck high etc. Then he wouldn't have any charges against him Jack would still flip out and we could laugh about it.
Oh and for good measure mention that you've been training on Asteroids which lets you destoy innocent space rocks, then ask him for any other games. Also be sure to ask if your long history of mental problems, previous problems with the law, and suicidal tendencies are going to be ignored so that your fellow mebers in the crazed shooter union won't attract suspicion.
Sorry for the triple post, but as a guaranteed failsafe just put this little warning at the bottom

The preceding letter was satire and was not ment as satire and was not meant to be taken seriously, if you actually thought this letter was serious please get a CAT scan as your brain may not be functioning properly.

That above anything else will guarantee no trouble whatsoever from the law.
darn typos you know what i meant (I hope)
ponders in my mind, is this a hacker who could've sent the email just to ruin us gamers? I say so, or someone convinced the kid to say that even though the kid might not know about that.
Dear Mr. Thompson

I'm going to go and watch tv tonight, maybe on 10-20 different channels, but i'm not sure what type of TV to watch it on, I was hoping you'd have some suggestions.

Trencher
FIRST; you actually lose ur first amendment rights when you make a threat.
Also, this dude is a flipping IDIOT. if thompson is threatned, espically if it involves video games, he'll get retaliation by tracing the e-mail
I lol'd.

Awhile ago during the PA deal a young kid threatened JT through an e-mail and JT reported him to the police right away. The threat wasn't viable, though, and it wasn't immediately after a nation-wide known shooting so nothing came of it.

That's just the kind of guy JT is, though. He runs his mouth like a hooker in a sailor town, but the moment someone comes along with something directly relating to him in a negative light he cries to the police. Hell, he even wanted the police to arrest Jerry and Mike for the "I Hate Jack Thompson" T-shirt thing.
It disturbs me how many people are flaming the kid upthread. Sure, he said something stupid and in poor taste; but last I checked, that wasn't an offence worthy of arrest.

The fact that Jack will use this as a bludgeon in his rhetorical armory does not change the fundamental free speech issue here; this person satirically attacked Jack, and he decided to report it as a real threat because he knows that the police are obliged to respond seriously. Just because Jack is an asshole, doesn't mean he should be able to throw you in jail for using the wrong words. We, as advocates of free speech in games and presumably elsewhere, should be recognizing this as an abuse of the system, not lambasting the victim for saying something reckless.

What's worse, when we turn our backs on people like this, we're allowing Jack Thompson to define the standard for appropriate speech. This is exactly what he wants, and exactly the reason we're opposed to his cause in the first place.
This kid deserves to be jailed.

F him, this kid deserves to be fined for the damage he just did to the game industry.

While we're at it, this kid deserves to be castrated so he can't make any mini-dipshits.

I really, really want to punch this kid. But that's probably just the violent video games talking...
What is the charge?

I ask this because the idea of being charged for making a threat is that your 'victim' needs something along the lines of actually feeling an 'imminent danger'.

In this situation the 'threat' was not made to the school. There was a statement (albeit a dumb one) made to a 3rd party. That 3rd party rightly forwarded the information to the local authorities.

But what is the charge here? I think this one will be a big lesson for the young individual but there will be no actual charges laid in criminal court after the police have had a chance to investigate.
Is there a way to know what the boy is being charged with, or what court is handling him? I would love to follow this case to completion, and I'm sure others may too.
I disagree, threatening to kill people can be funny if done in the proper context. Really, what exactly is a "school shooting expert"? Does a degree concerning law make one so? Jack continually has his "expert opinion" outright eroded to nothingness by, for all intents and purposes, lay people, and now he's starting to get his comeupance on tv.

This letter seems like a satrical way to make that point, while at the same time it misses all the raving lunacy that peppered the VT shooters letter. While it's true we are not the letter sender, and we are not psychic, I would bet money on this being a joke, the sender being ground through the system then released with diminished or dropped charges, only to have his below-18 record purged, or kept secret, or however they do it.
That Kotaku article is awesome. I haven't even read it yet, but the picture alone made me laugh.
thats what you get went you are a school shooting expert.
Still taking down giants, I see. Congratulations, Thompson. You got a 14 year old kid in trouble. That is a huge victory for you. Mustn't you be proud.
Is the letter obviously sarcastic? One person here claims to know the writer, and that it is. The rest of us (myself included) assume it is, but do we know?

If this were a completely deluded, psychotic kid, tired of abuse and determined to do something about it; who happened to see a news report featuring a "school shooting expert", what kind of letter might he write seeking advice? It might read,

"Hello, Jack Thompson.

"I am going to shoot 20-30 people at my school, UC Berkeley, but I am not sure on what gun to use. Any suggestions? I am also looking for a game to train with. Do you have any ideas? I am fairly new to this.

"Thank you for your time."

Think about it. If you were completely nuts, this is exactly the kind of letter you might write. This is my point as to why it should be taken seriously, and why we shouldn't just laugh it off because of what we know about the person this kid wrote to. To a lot of people watching on TV, Laddy Jack is a sane and rational individual. We know he isn't, but a good many people never see that side of him.

Ultimately, the best reason to take it seriously is that most people who do snap do stuff like this before they do. At the very least, this kid does need some help. He may not be a raving, gun-toting maniac, but he does have some issues.

To say it again, threatening to kill people is never funny.
Sure, the police should investigate death threats, but when the letter is obviously sarcastic, I think a little discretion is required before you arrest some stupid kid with too much time on his hands.
When I read this I thought it was a really stupid idea. The kid was stupid for not realizing that someone like JT would not over react. JT waits for stuff like this. He will from this point on wave this event as another one of his "victories" over violent video games. I hope that this kid gets more than a scolding, a couple months comunity service at least.

Bad Jokes are bad no matter how you meant it.

I agree with those of you that state that this puts gamers in a bad light. It has to be the worst thing anyone could do.

So now we know just like these kids:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267741,00.html

Don't tease the alligators.
Unsurprised he was arrested in California, they seem to be gradually losing the protection of the first amendment.
@Scrubking

Threatening to kill people is illegal. Always has been.

Would you prefer that the police didn't act on death threats?
Hahahaha that's hilarious.

Americans are pathetic.
Well... Jack IS a self proclaimed "School Shooting Expert". I thought this letter was brilliant.
So it's legal now to arrest people and search their house because they verbally threaten someone? What's next? Is the government going to be monitoring sites like this to see who makes a threat?
Really? Which part was brilliant? The part where he's a callous dickhead, or the part where he makes every gamer look bad to the outside world? This letter is likely to be spun one of two ways. Maybe this letter gets treated as a (semi-)serious threat. Gamers look bad. Maybe it gets treated as a prank. Gamers look bad.

Maybe it won't get any coverage, if we're lucky. In any case, this is the exact kind of thing the gaming community needs to stand against. It makes us all look bad. No to mention the fact that sooner or later someone from some media outlet will trawl through the comments on a site like this, when someone makes a "joke" like this and see thirty people talking about how funny the jackass' message was.

Wake up people, this letter was stupid. Full stop.
"I am also looking for a game to train with. Do you have any ideas? I am fairly new to this."

I did have to lol at that. Nice point, but wrong way to do it.
Way to cast a shadow on the game community kid. Did you think Thompson wouldn't overreact to an email? Don't give this guy any more ammo.
I get the point the kid wanted to make, but it was badly done. Let's face it : Situations like that, Jack eats that for lunch. It's too easy for him to deflect these kinds of attack and gives him more fuel for his crusade.
To attempt to look on the bright side of this, if the dumb kid goes to jail, at least that's one less foul-mouthed asshat on Live.
Fourteen-year-old boys do stupid stuff like this. I'm not excusing it, but their hormone-infused immature brains make them liable to do stuff that they and everyone will regret later (Internet forums are particularly good examples of this sort of regret in leisure behavioir). But for 99.9999% of them, it's going to be just talk and when the hormones quiet down a bit in a few years, they become "normal" (as much as any of us ever become normal) adults. It's when the 14-year-old behavior lingers on into adulthood that the behavior becomes scary.

Chances are, simple teenage rebellion against parental values will save JT's kid.
It's official.... There is someone stupider than I am.
For anyone who doesn't know the general geography of the SF Bay Area in California. Marin, where this kid is from, is on the other side of the Bay. It requires a long drive, followed by a long bridge to get from Marin to Berkely. Bart, the local mass Transit system, does not go up to Marin. It's very unlikely that a 14 year old would be able to get from Marin to Berkely.

Also, Marin is an area filled with money, and sits in an area of the bay that is generally removed from everything else. As a result for most teens in that area, there's really nothing to do. For a teen in Marin, this probably gave him some much needed excitement.

With any luck he'll get some community service and he can get more of a thrill picking up trash on 101.
wow... just wow. why in the world did he do that? for attention or something? i'm going to have to agree--that was one of the most tasteless and jackassy acts i've ever seen o_o.
Grombar,
"We need a way to sterilize the stupid. "

But... But... John Bruce already has a kid. It's too late for him.


Oh.

You mean...

Oh.

Yeah.

Uh.

:)

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
If my sources are correct, this was quite known on a forum I've been on for a while. He's a bit of a dickhead but there's no way he was serious.
Bad idea. There are plenty of other ways to get a point across without using threats (even sarcastic ones) that are based off of a recent tragedy. This just fuels Jacko's fire and gives him another bullshit excuse to hate gamers.

Plus, I'd suggest not emailing the moron anything anyway because even if it is intelligently written all he'll do is send you back a message saying how amazing he is and how you and your friends compose the dredges of today's society and should be institutionalized.
What a stupid, stupid kid. First of all, if it is an attempt at satire, parody, or some other kind of humour, it fails. It's not funny. It won't make me or anyone else take a second look at Laddy Jack's thoughts on media violence. It was also done in incredibly bad taste. All that this stupid kid's email does is make gamers look bad. Either we're threatening to kill people, or we're making light of an incredibly tragic event.

Frankly, I hope the kid was arrested. Threatening to kill people is not funny. Not now, not if no one had been killed at VT last week, not ever. It's also not protected speech. It is a crime. I don't care if he was trying to be funny. If you were a student at Berkeley, or knew a student there, or were the parent of a student there, how funny would you find it that someone was sending messages around like this? How good would you feel if the authorities wrote it off as a bad joke, without looking into it? How would you like a bunch of people sitting around the comments section of a blog saying, "It's a joke, leave the kid alone"?

Stupid, stupid kid.
Obviously that's sarcasm. Hopefully he doesn't get in too much trouble.
Sarcasm isn't a crime. Threatening to "shoot 20-30 people" is a crime.

By the way, nowhere in the email does the kid state his age.
I laughed. The email in question was a nice dig at Thompson and obviously not to be taken seriously.

On another note, some people in this thread need to get some perspective. "This is war!" is one of the more ridiculous comments I've seen recently. It's not war. It's a mouthpiece with an agenda and air-time taking on free speech.

The kid will walk. He'll get a scolding from authorities, sure, but he gets a pat on the back from me.
Since when did sarcasm become a crime?
God damned kid.

@Serrenity

It's a good idea, but he's a difficult man, and although completely insane to the point of disbelief, he should be handled with care. Yes, action should be taken, but it comes down to what kind of action, and how it should be handled. Basically, if you want gamers to do something about him, you have to be very careful as to not get our image damaged any more than it already is, as he will quite certainly play the BS card. Over, and over, and over again.

Which means you should also consistently provide evidence, something legit, to counter him. That's my idea, is to counter him publicly somehow, with actual intelligence and professionalism. So it both discredits him, and by not letting him get to you, it deteriorates his image.
Yeah I got the kid's joke. Jack Thompson is a school shooting expert right? so why not ask him how to get the job done. har har
not a very smart move kid.
The kid made a copycat threat of a very recent massacre to a vindictive lawyer.

We need a way to sterilize the stupid.
I agree with the rest of you in that this was not an intelligent thing to do. However, the e-mail is obviously made in jest, but it was extremely poor taste. Thompson is going to milk this for all it's worth though, we all know that. Shame on the kid for being a bonehead and shame on Thompson for being a jerk.

-Auto
@Baine

No offense man, but that's a big wall of text that I doubt he'll even read, hell I couldn't read it. The top part should have been broken into at least three smaller paragraphs.

There's no real point in e-mailing him either as he'll just send back a one sentence reply if not smaller, probably in the form of an insult.

As for Jack, why hasn't the military come and pointed out that Jack continues to lie about what they use "video games" for in their training? It has nothing to do with making it easier for soldiers to kill as he claims.
A child, standing up to an abuser (verbal/mental).
An abuser (verbal/mental) using it to perform more abuse.
Authority figures siding with the abuser.

It's not hard to picture this kid feeling abused (in a sense) by the false claims of John Bruce over the past week.
It's not hard to picture that kid feeling that he has no way to stand up to such an abuser.
It's not hard to picture that kid striking back with sarcasm against such an abuser, as irrational as we may see the form that striking back takes.
It's not hard to picture that abuser using and twisting that sarcasm to commit further abuse by making false alligations against the kid.
It's not hard to picture authority figures siding with abusers who use and misuse the system to further such abuse and keep the victims of such abuse down.

What else is new?

nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Jack's done this before if you recall. Didn't he do the same thing to a 14-year-old kid in Texas who also threatened him?

In both cases, neither of them look good. The kid was stupid for doing it and Jack looks petty and like a, er..."bully" for picking on someone smaller than himself.

I remember last year when I posted something on these forums about how he "must be stopped" and he went and threatend to sue me. I never emailed him directly, much less intended that as a statement for bodily harm against him. I was just expressing my exasperation here. I'm 36 years old, yet he demanded I have my parents contact him, lol! He said if I responded in any way he'd sue me. I called his bluff and said, "Make my day, asshole." I have heard NOTHING from him since.

So yeah, he won't hesitate to take on 14-year-olds because he knows he can get away with it. With an adult who is capable of mounting a good legal defense (and is friends with someone whose father is an attorney himself in this case), it's a different story. To me that just shows how much of a coward he is.
Stupid kid, stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid kid. Not only was that a dumb idea to, even if you were joking, say you're going to kill people at your school, but to email Jack about it and ask what video game he reccommends you train on? I really do hope this kid gets what's coming to him.
Hate to say it but JT had every right to turn that email into the cops. You make threats like that, even in jest, and people aren't going to take it lightly. The kid probably will get some sort of slap on the wrist but maybe getting arrested will wisen him up some.
Wow, I have to say, the kid has some 'nads.

I commend him for the effort, but take off points for the execution of the idea. The comment was poorly timed, in poor taste, everything else that has been said prior to this.

My only real concern is this: We all (myself included), complain about JT's ethics, motivation, and constant slandering, yet we do nothing. I'm on Game sites all day, I work in the industry, and yet, typical to the American ideal, we'd rather complain about something that take action.

In a way, I find this kid's actions inspiring; stupid, but inspiring. In an effort to show just how ridiculous JT is, he put himself out there--got martyred for it, but he made the effort.

To be honest, I would love to see a grassroots pro-game movement started to challenge the moronic rantings of JT. Let's face it, we know he's full of shit, but it is again the American way to take what you hear whole-heartedly without actually researching into it.

I wonder if it's not time that Gamers take some things on ourselves. Give good ole' JT that conspiracy theory he's been wanting to be true for so long.

All-in-all, I whole-heartedly agree with this kid's motivation, not his execution. I would love to see more active rebuttal against JT and anti-gaming legislature in the Public sphere, not our own little back-water corner of the net.

Ya know what they say, "Hide Nothing, and watch the fools search forever."
Wait a minute.

Do we have ANY evidence or proof that they "arrested and searched the boy's house" other than Jack's email? I wouldn't trust anything he says of late so I hope that someone actually bothered to check with the Californian P.D. ? Bear in mind that if he used any non-standard email that tracing the kid would be difficult to do in a short space of time. Until I hear that this was followed up by the CPD from themselves, I'm staying unconvinced.

Quite apart from anything else, his email is a blatent and obvious pisstake and wouldn't stand up in court. The kid is a minor, wouldn't be "at school" in that university and wouldn't email a high profile lawyer, who has been looking for excuses to berate gamers, for advice.


Jack, if you have actually adversely affected this kid's life for sending you a pisstake email, and an obvious one at that, you should be bloody ashamed of yourself. At best, you are an utter idiot for taking it seriously. At worst, you are the kind of scum who cares so little for other people you would try to have them arrested and prosecuted for their own (and at least this is justified by their actual age) childish stupidity in pursuit of furthering your career and agenda. Shameful.
Sigh... I just know that in his next TV appearance, Thompson will say something like "I got an e-mail from a crazy 14-year old gamer who was threatening to shoot his fellow classmates!" or something... But I sure hope the kid didn't get into too much trouble for this :/
This looks like the e-mail was written as a joke, but the problem here is:

1) It's not funny.
2) Authorities frown on threats, especially in light of the VT incident.

This kid's a dumbass.
he should have wnet with somthing a little different, sarcastic comments are a low form of wit and beliving jack can comprehend any kind of wit is a dumb move.

Id have sent it like this (if i was gonna send it, wich i wouldnt because i can talk to brick walls in person):

Hello, Jack Thompson.

I am going to fly into space to do battle for the star league against Xur and the kodan armada, but I am not sure on what ship to use. Any suggestions? I am also looking for a game to train with. Do you have any ideas? I am fairly new to this.

Thank you for your time.
Agreed. Yes, we all understand that his campaign is full of slanderous lies. We'd all expect that from someone who doesn't play computer games but observes and criticises from a distance. However, portraying these feelings using sarcastic videos (e.g. "Angry German Kid" on YouTube) and this particular email prank, only makes matters worse.

Mistyped my last post, it should have been "Documentary/Protest". Although I'm not entirely sure what sort of video structure to go for. But the main goal are to promote the computer game scene, by counter-arguing this campaign, providing an education to non-gamers about certain aspects in a 'violent' computer game that makes them addictive (and not because of the violent content). In this particular instance, I'm also tempted to include advice to gamers on not what to do.

JT for dead.
Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson...

...
[...] How To Be A Bigger Idiot Than Jack Thompson From Game Politics: [...]
I think this was an ill-advised attempt at satire gone horribly wrong. Like Johnathan Swift's "Modest Proposal" where he suggested baby-eating as a solution to poverty and world hunger.
[...] Hello, Jack Thompson. I am going to shoot 20-30 people at my school, UC Berkeley, but I am not sure on what gun to use. Any suggestions? I am also looking for a game to train with. Do you have any ideas? I am fairly new to this. Thank you for your time. Way to go fucker, now he can finally say he's gotten someone arrested. His late blooming mid-life crisis was almost over and you gave him new hope. The California police searched his house and eventually released the 14 year old after they realized he had no weapons or will to commit the crime, just two very pissed off parents. So Jack Thompson's win/loss record is now set at about 1-81, give or take a few dead hobos, which is not to be confused with a few good men. Now that he's finally done something useful, it won't soon be forgotten. I think it's time we finally considered a new methodology of charting years. B.C. and A.D. is so 2,000 years ago. B.J.T. and After Dickhead would be a much better way of keeping track of things. It lets the world know the exact day and year we're referring too, and gamers span all different religions, so their shouldn't be anyone offended. Except Jesus, but I never see that guy in church anyways. [...]
I don't think this kid was an idiot at all. Infact, I think he's just proved a point of how friggen out of touch Jack Thompson is.

If I sent an email to Jack saying I live on the moon and have laser beams, I've played Space Invaders for 20years and am all set to start shooting, you think he'd report me aswell?

Jack Thompson -CLEARLY- has no ability to separate fact from fiction. That email was obviously a sarcastic (in bad taste or not) statement. Yet he felt it necessary to report it.

That does it what's his email? I'm gonna send my living on the moon one. (I'll add that I have all the cheese in the world and Elvis to keep me company).
PS:
@Wolf
"And this kid should be thrown into some kind of disciplinary institution."

Why? He's a kid. He wrote a letter of protest (albeit with a sarcastic undertone). I understand that it was a dumb thing to do but COMEON this is not even worthy of a court.

If I was a cop I would have gone round his house. Had a look and a talk. Warned him about the errors of making threats, spoken to his parents. Than I probably would have said incidentally that was a balls to the wall move good work.

Throwing a kid in "juvi" for making a 'political' statement is just stupid. What next lets throw 14year olds in jail that say "I wish my english teacher was dead"?
Ugh, he obviously satirized Jack's ass. What are you, guys? A bunch of whiny idiots! We need to satirize Jack more. Dumbass points to the kid, though, for misjudging Jack's and the cops' idiocy. Should've used hush.ai or a proxy.

But ooh, we've got silent kids who write question marks on their name tag, write playwrights that are centered around sexual abuse and such, act suspiciously, but they're off off the hook - without event being sent to a decent psychological evaluation! But if some kid wants to satirize Jack Thompson, we need an arrest. Whoa, so much about "bad judgement". They could've used that time to shit darts or something, because it would've made this world a whole lot better place.

There's one thing called fake threats, and those who make such should be arrested et. al. BUT WHAT THE HELL IS IT WITH A SIMPLE FUCKING JOKE?!

I loathe the officer who dispatched the police to his house.
The only reason this email was sent within days of the shooting is because Jack Thompson was out in public making stupid and insensitive comments within hours of the shooting.
I know the guy a bit, from a game. He's really weird in
the head, in a good way tho. He'd never go and do school
shootings.
Ok, the deal is, this was real. A friend from another board, named Kitteh, was pissed off at the whole Jack Thompson thing, and really did do this.
Hahaha, Kitten owns you all.
Hello webmaster, Very nice place you have here. You
Re: Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Answer a fool according to his folly.
 

张家界旅游


 

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
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