Student Arrested For Using Phone App To 'Shoot' Classmates

New submitter Lord_Breetai sends word that a Louisiana high school student has been arrested for using a mobile app to simulate shooting his classmates. The app overlays an FPS-style gun and UI over a real background seen through the device's camera. The student tried it out and then unwisely posted a video of it on YouTube. Another student's parent saw the video and reported it to authorities. Major Wolfe of the local police said, "You can't ignore it. We don't know at what time that game becomes reality. He said it was a result of him being frustrated and tired of being bullied. He said that he had no intentions of hurting anybody. We have to take all threats seriously and we have no way of knowing that without investigating and getting to the bottom of it. With all the school shooting we've had in the United States, it's just not a very good game to be playing at this time." The boy is now facing criminal charges for terrorizing and interference of the operation of a school.

what is happening to this country

[Anonymous Coward]

Zero tolerance, complete risk avoidance, and neopuritanism while half the country cares more about what happens after you die than the encroaching totalitarianism.

Oh good

[Anonymous Coward]

He said it was a result of him being frustrated and tired of being bullied.

and what a better way to deal with this than let the police and justice system bully him instead

Re:Really?

[ZosX]

This is fucking unreal. Thought crime to the fucking max man.

Re:Really?

[gagol]

This generation will be so fucked up, its not even funny anymore.

What...

[Ruzgfpegk]

So they don't think it's a problem if he's bullied, but if he plays a game where he does something about it (because no one else will ever do anything) he becomes the bad guy? And they still wonder why they have school shootings?

SubjectsInCommentsAreStupid

[lesincompetent]

We have to take all threats seriously [...]

Of course you have to but no, an app is not a threat.

Guns are bad

[ArcadeMan]

Stop with the stupid "right to bear arms" crap and stuff like this will not bother anyone. It's just a game on a display.

And I'd say that 99% of the school shootings are due to people being harassed and bullied by groups, so teaching kids to be better persons and tolerate others would do a much better job than trying to catch oppressed people in the last stage of "I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do to get out of this situation anymore".

Solidarity

[hammeraxe]

I think all his classmates should download the app, make similar videos and upload them to youtube just to show how ridiculous this is. They can't arrest them all.
The guy is facing CRIMINAL CHARGES for fucks sake!

"We have to take all threats seriously"

[kthreadd]

No you don't. You should use your brain first.

Re:Really?

[ZosX]

when I was a kid nobody would have thought twice about this. now this kid is in jail. he's the one that was bullied. i was bullied a lot in grade school, so I fully understand his frustrations and anger. next the "crushing his head" skit will be banned. our future is fucking fucked.

Re:Really?

[ZosX]

and let me add....he's 15. a minor. charges? wtf is this country coming to that even kids are now criminals?! WTF AMERICA??

Re:what is happening to this country

[Goglu]

What is sad is that ***WE*** (my generation, in their 40s, who used to play Assassin) have lost this ability. What became of us???

What else do you expect?

[pablo_max]

America is a country which values the right to have high capacity magazines for assault weapons over the freedom of speech.
It it more important to ensure the blind can carry a concealed firearm than it is to ensure the children of the country are properly educated.
It is more important to spend nearly 5% of the GDP on a military, not counting the illegal wars than to allow your fellow countrymen access to affordable health care.
That is the very definition of a morally corrupted system.
It is simply a fact. Most of the people simply do not care about what is going on in America as long as their personal situation is OK. As long as they can buy an iPhone 10s for 1$ on a 5 year contract.
There is only one possible outcome here. America has been on this road since the 70's. Some argue since the end of WW2. It is only now, as things have progressed so far that the visible signs are escalating.
I do not say that Americans are bad people, because I believe that they are, on the average "just folk". Just trying to get by. They are, unfortunately, a product of the system which produced them. That system, just didn't have their interests in mind.

Re:YADOUS

[Zero__Kelvin]

Your post is also an unbelievable display of stupidity. Your solution to what is clearly now a pervasive problem in this country is to ignore it and "move along." Seriously? Sure, there is a lot of idiocy in this whole scenario, but when idiocy results in the harmless posting of a video on youtube that is one thing. The idiocy of arresting the kid is quite another. The first was a commission of error by a high school student and nobody lost their freedom. The second is an actual crime. A grown man in a position of authority has used that authority to take away the freedom of a youth to cover his own ass and appear "tough on crime." I fully intended to post contact information to this idiot so that we all could send him a note telling him what a criminal he truly is, but The Terrebone Parish Website [tpso.net] (administration info in link, presumably) is down at the moment, so at least not everyone is irresponsible enough to see this and shrug it off with an air of irresponsibility.

Re:Solidarity

[silas_moeckel]

The only people that should be facing criminal charges are the school admins and police that were involved. The kid is 15. What moron make an interfering with a school a criminal law??? It's the inmates responsibility to attempt escape, POW 101 :)

Re:terrorism?

[scotts13]

who the fuck was harmed? no one. interfering with school ops? when? how?

Indeed. Other than by the meddling actions of one parent, no one at the school would ever have known. No one was "terrorized" (other than this one student), the school was not interfered with. But NOW, we have an individual that know authority is capricious and unfair. Perhaps he will lash out...

Re:Really?

[hodet]

Ya lets not help the kid socially integrate into his surroundings. Press criminal charges for his thoughts. They should be grateful they got an actual clue to a problem rather then trying to suppress his attempts to deal with his situation and make his day more bearable.

It's almost like they WANT more shootings.

[VortexCortex]

With all the school shooting we've had in the United States, it's just not a very good game to be playing at this time." The boy is now facing criminal charges for terrorizing and interference of the operation of a school.

So, instead of just counseling the lad, and maybe talking to teachers and investigating the bullying, we're not going to fix the situation, but make an example out of the kid for doing the equivalent of making a "gun" with his finger and saying "bang". In fact, the over-reaction by the school will just ensure that the very kind of people who actually DO shoot up schools will not go to the grownups for help for fear of being jailed as a terrorist for their thoughtcrimes.

Will you scared little fuckers actually do anything I want if I drum up threats of your woman and children being harmed? Of course you will. School Bus Drivers kill more kids in accidents than school shootings do. You Fucking morons are so easy to control. Keep the environment, make more examples to make the environment worse and thus gain more control through fear. We've got you to acclimate children to not walking home without supervision, despite child predator numbers being at an all time low, and acclimated to wearing RFID tags and getting retinal scans for no good reason.

1984's big brother is OK so long as he's "protecting" kids from harm, not oppressing adults? Proitp: Your indoctrination starts when you're yet young. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Soon we'll have you implanting microchips in babies that ping a wireless network, so they don't get lost... And brining your kids up to be the model dystopian citizens. Fools.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hard to say in this case, we could just go "FREEDOM!" and complain the kid is being punished. It is an odd thing to do though. Can you imagine the repercussions for the staff if he showed up with an actual gun one day and they had done nothing? I have no love for teachers and administrative staff (they're boring leeches on society) but they would be fired if not brought up on charges.

Yes! We should punish children for having an imagination that does not conform to the acceptably Politically Correct norm! If teachers discover such a Politically Incorrect imagination exists and they do not report the child for reprogramming then the teacher should be punished severely! After they make the standardized Politically Correct apology sans visible bruises and contusions of course.

Re:YADOUS

[Zumbs]

I think this article is a telling display of a society moving in the wrong direction. A boy was being bullied and his cry for help (the video) has now lead to his arrest, putting him in an even worse situation. In a sane society, it would have lead to him getting help to tackle the bullying and get on with his life.

Re:Really?

[sycodon]

Zero Tolerance: A regulatory philosophy that administrators hide behind to avoid having to make decisions and subsequently defend those decisions.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you punish and take away people's means of non-violent stress relief, do not be surprised when they snap and resort to violent means.

Re:What...

[boarder8925]

Look at it as a life lesson: They don't want kids growing up to stand up to the bullies they'll face in adult life, so they don't let them do it as kids.

Re:Different perspective...

[mynamestolen]

Yes it needs action as you say and the action is called counselling, listening, fixing the bullying problem. You Americans live in a fucked society. There, I've said it again. Damn, I'll lose karma.

Re:Really?

[Dodgy G33za]

"they're boring leeches on society"

Teachers? Really. Of all the people in the world that could be called this (drug dealers, arms merchants, derivatives traders, merchant bankers, marketing consultants) it is a very sad state of affairs when people think this. There are lots of children in this world crying out for education.

Re:Will be??

[hedwards]

Sense of entitlement? You mean expecting to be able to find a living wage job and have college largely paid for by the government?

They don't expect 6 figures and to run the company in 2 years, they expect to be able to find a living wage job. Unfortunately because of cheapskates like you, for a lot of them making 6 figures is what it's going to take to pay off college and buy a house in a reasonable period of time.

It's always interesting how arrogant old people like to ignore the fact that when they were young, college was heavily subsidized and we hadn't figured out that it was possible to send jobs overseas rather than offering them up to the people at the bottom. What's more, there was little competition from other countries and the rich didn't expect to get all the profits of other people's work.

They're fucked alright, but mostly because of people like you got yours and to hell with anybody else.

Re:Really?

[binarylarry]

I fail to see how "fantasizing about killing peers" is related to political correctness.

That said, kids in school can be awful to one another, so I bet most people feel that way at some point.

Re:Really?

[PRMan]

You mean like "If I'm going to face criminal charges anyway, I might as well have shot the bully..." Makes sense in a twisted sort of logical way.

Re:Will be??

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of arrogant, it's VERY arrogant to assume he isn't paying these people well when he NEVER said how much he's paying. If he's paying the German engineers $50k a year and the American kids want $75k that is far more than a "Living Wage" as you put it. Most of my life I made $20-30K and Have a Nice Car, a Fast Motorcycle, A small house, and that's with two kids and i'm very happy and safe and even have some extra weight i need to lose, so well fed. If you think a "Living Wage" has to me more than that you are greedy. Don't get me wrong, if you can make more than by all means do, but no one 'needs' it.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can thank the teachers unions for this!

Re:Really?

[LWATCDR]

Well can you blame them. What is the first thing that happens when kid does something wrong.
"WHY DIDN'T ANYONE SEE THESE CLEAR WARNING SIGNS!" This kid played first person shooters, read gun magazines, and didn't get along with the popular kids! Just like millions of other people....

Just like in the old days they used to say, "no one ever got fired for buying IBM". No school administrator ever got in trouble for putting a kid in jail as a potential danger. Man I am glad they didn't have first person shooters when I was in school. I know for a fact that at least one of my friends if not myself would have made a map of the school. Of course that person and everyone that played that map would go to jail for planning a terrorist attack.

And the parents will not stop it because it is always better to throw another persons kid in jail to protect your own.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

so they investigate and move on. Arresting the kid and filing charges is a clear sign the Police are not only clueless but are going beyond "Protect and Serve". Very scary

Re:I thought you needed a gun to shoot someone...

[jbssm]

Sure, it's hell to live in these backwater countries of European Union... we are obviously afraid to go out in the streets because you know guns are outlawed here so everyone is shooting everyone else around because of that, oh the humanity!

Re:Really?

[dinfinity]

Well can you blame them. What is the first thing that happens when kid does something wrong.
"WHY DIDN'T ANYONE SEE THESE CLEAR WARNING SIGNS!"

It may be a crazy idea, but why not try talking to the (troubled) kid instead of fucking arresting him?
Jesus Christ.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Healthier? Maybe, maybe not. There have been many accidents and some deaths involved with those sports over the years.

Not to mention that if you're skinny and unpopular, you will likely be placing yourself right in the midst of those types who would bully you.

Re:Really?

[Blue Stone]

The problem is clear - those people in authority in your country - they are incapable of a proportionate response - their judgment is terrible; faulty; bordering on the insane: they are unfit to govern, lacking basic reason abilities and judgment. There seems to be no facility or investment in the concept of "is this fair?".

You have an anemy within your country and it is the ignorant, incompetent aresholes who are running it; they are unfit to weild the power they have been given.

Re:Really?

[coastwalker]

The USA looks more and more like the definition of hell as the memory of the cold war fades. These days there is very little to choose between the all out capitalism of gangster run Russia and industrial prison America. Maybe it was always so and we who believed in the free world were fools.

Re:Really?

[Twanfox]

You have obviously never indulged in flights of fancy or other thought experiments that are fun to explore but not fun to live. To take this stupid analogy further, let's explore...

Playing World of Warcraft is rehearsal for killing the hordes of orcs.

Playing Payday 2 is rehearsal for robbing banks and shooting cops.

Playing Left 4 Dead 2 is rehearsal for the next Zombie Apocalypse, because you know it's coming.

My child had a princess party once. Surely, she's royalty, or soon to be married into it.

Get a grip, man. Sometimes playing a game is just a game. Crimes need to be based on real actions and real intentions rather than what one would indulge in for a game. Too many games would be unacceptable real world behavior, and yet we have them because it's fun to play them when there are no lasting penalties for those kinds of actions.

Re:Really?

[Dahamma]

Hah, that's the first thing I thought of when reading this.

"I'm crushing your head, I'm crushing you head!!"

"A 17 year old was arrested today for allegedly threatening to murder a classmate with his thumb and index finger. Police and school authorities are blaming a Canadian terrorist group for encouraging the act".

Re:Really?

[Dahamma]

So the kid was bullied, and he fantasized about getting even. I'd bet the majority of kids who get bullied (and there are a LOT of them) do the same thing (they just don't post it on Youtube, which was pretty stupid). Still, how does that make the former (which involved actual aggression) "kids will be kids" and the latter (purely imagination) a serious criminal act?!

Re:Really?

[Dahamma]

This is the same sort of mentality that got actors and writers arrested or blacklisted for being a "threat to America" or homosexuals arrested or harassed for being "a threat to the children". The way you think is not and should never be a crime. In some cases it may warrant assistance but not prison.

Re:Really?

[BasilBrush]

No you wouldn't. No one's been arrested for Grand Theft Auto (the video game).

The difference here is posting a video on YouTube of a simulation of shooting real specifically identifiable children. It'd have been just as arrest worthy if it'd been done with video effects tools rather than as a game.