In 2007, teenager Danny Petric shot both of his parents with a 9mm pistol, killing his mother and severely wounding his father, allegedly over a video game. This bit of news is back in the headlines as defense attorneys now try the "video games made me do it" defense. According to Mark Petric, the shooter's father, Danny became obsessed with Halo 3 after a snowboarding accident left him housebound for nearly a year. His father is now on a mission to get violent video games out of the hands of children.
As shocking as this sounds, my gut reaction is to say that this is but one extreme example that isn't representative of the vast majority of people playing violent video games. But I don't want to jump to any conclusions without considering all of the possible angles. So let's take this opportunity to examine the claims made in this case, the news reports, as well as the larger issue of video game violence. More after the jump.