Relentless anti-videogame campaigner, Jack Thompson, has made headlines in the States again. Last week, the Florida lawyer contacted police in St. Francisville, Louisiana, to suggest that a recent murder in the area may have been influenced by a videogame in the Grand Theft Auto series.
In the incident, two teenagers are charged with shooting 55-year-old Michael Gore in the face when he refused to let them borrow his car. According to the report on Louisiana's Advocate website, Thompson told police that the gruesome details of the crime "raised a red flag" in his head. He felt the incident resembled a 'scenario' in GTA. Acting on his comments, police searched the home of one of the teenagers, 16-year-old Kurt Edward Neher, and found several Mature-rated games. The report doesn't mention if the relevant GTA title was among them.
While Thompson appears convinced of a link between the game and the crime (allegedly commenting that "Nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer"), the local sheriff was not so convinced. "I think it goes beyond video games, but who's to say?" he told reports before adding that the question of videogame violence was, "more of a debate for the living room rather than the courtroom."
