Xbox Live threat provokes high school lockdown
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jan 25th 2007 at 4:25AM }
An Ohio middle school student has been charged with 'inducing a public panic' after he told a California teen during an Xbox Live chat that he was going to bring a gun to his school. The California teen's father caught wind of the alleged plot and alerted the FBI. A search warrant was issued, and police hauled the boy off, along with his Xbox 360 and other "items of evidentiary value." He has since been released to his parents; but it's unclear if his Xbox was returned.The event has seemingly triggered a similar threat at the local high school, where police have begun patrolling school grounds in an effort to thwart potential violence. "Our suspicion is that the [Xbox Live] incident trickled over to the high school," said Teays Valley Superintendent Jeff Sheets. No further arrests have been made.
[Thanks, Ian]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kye @ Jan 25th 2007 5:02AM
LMFAO
"But it's unclear if his Xbox was returned"
Always focused on the main issues aren't we?
Games! FTW
Rubang B @ Jan 25th 2007 4:44AM
Haha silly nerd gettin' roughed up by the FBI.
KineticOnline @ Jan 25th 2007 4:44AM
Arnt im glad im a european, at least here the schools are realtivly safe from dumbass overreactive parents and goverment agencies
Purple Haze @ Jan 25th 2007 4:53AM
He was probably talking about some random game with a school and a gun.
Judd @ Jan 25th 2007 5:11AM
What's worse, telling your dad about what some stranger said over a headset, or contacting the FBI over what you son said he heard another guy say?
Or the fact that in our post-911 world, something an FBI agent hears from a father, from his son, from a stranger, over a headset, is considered "probable cause" to supersede the Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights.
Ben Friesen @ Jan 25th 2007 5:18AM
It's not post 9/11, it's post Columbine. Besides that, if you're under the age of 18 you don't really have any rights, especially when it comes to school safety. The thing is, if they hadn't reacted in the way that they did, and the kid did bring a gun to school and started shooting people, whoever didn't call it in would be in a world of shit.
aznfury @ Jan 25th 2007 5:20AM
The FBI should take these things seriously. I remember one time some CS players from two different rival cafes in the same area were talking smack and someone actually went to the rival cafe and shot some of the gamers, one died.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,201866,00.html
Brogan @ Jan 25th 2007 8:09AM
So video games stop a school shooting. interesting
nuero @ Jan 25th 2007 5:36AM
"He was probably talking about some random game with a school and a gun."
Yeah, developers aren't under enough flak for violence in games as it is, they're SERIOUSLY going to rush to make games involving schools and guns.
GoonieGooGoo @ Jan 25th 2007 5:36AM
@ #2
tell that to the Russians
Hugh Mann @ Jan 25th 2007 5:46AM
@ 9
Russia is not part of Europe, dumbass.
silkylove @ Jan 25th 2007 5:58AM
rofl @ gooniegoogoo
gamabunta @ Jan 25th 2007 6:03AM
#6
According to a 1969 Supreme Court ruling you don't lose your constitutional rights when you are in school:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_v._Des_Moines
grable @ Jan 25th 2007 6:11AM
morons. all of them.
Ben Friesen @ Jan 25th 2007 6:56AM
@ 12
That case is in regards to the powers of the school, not the powers of the FBI. Besides that, free speech doesn't include things like this: the classic line that free speech does not give you the right to scream "Fire!" in a crowded theater (unless of course there is actually a fire in the theater). This is why they cite it as 'inducing a public panic'. Try again.
zmurfilain @ Jan 25th 2007 6:58AM
@9 huh ? O_O
@10 huh ? O_o -half of europe is russia O_O http://www.explorecrete.com/crete-maps/images/europe.gif
if you meant the European Union taht's another story .
silkylove @ Jan 25th 2007 7:09AM
@ 15
well I'll be damned. rofl @ me:P
zmurfilain @ Jan 25th 2007 7:19AM
@9 if you mean the Beslan school hostage crisis
you shod read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_hostage_crisis
and @ 16 you learn each day something new :)
Anticrawl @ Jan 25th 2007 7:43AM
God I wish something like this happened to me when I was in highschool. We(my family and I) would have had a field day with this all over the news and most importantly in court. There is no better person to make a fool of than the "authority", you'd be supprised how little they know of the laws they govern and enforce, only speaking for the States of course.
Anticrawl
JonFitt @ Jan 25th 2007 7:44AM
I should contact the FBI/MI6, I've heard some threatening smack talk from many a pre-pubescent American.
Ben Friesen @ Jan 25th 2007 7:52AM
@ Anticrawl
How is this not covered under the law? Kid makes a threat that he's going to bring a gun to school, police bring him into custody, obtain warrant, find the gun, release the kid into custody of parents.
So you wish that this had happened to you when you were in high school so that you would be pitied and scorned by your community, in addition to bringing a protracted and expensive legal battle to your family?
You're either a retard or an attention whore.
Jeb @ Jan 25th 2007 8:01AM
This just shows why the 360 is bad news - Cause the 360 causes people to go crazy and want to kill people. Especially Russians. And very especially those sneaky European Russians, who move from continent to continent like transient ghosts.
TravistyOJ @ Jan 25th 2007 8:30AM
Good.
Anticrawl @ Jan 25th 2007 8:17AM
Apparently you haven't read the full story Ben Friesen, but then again I suppose someone has to believe the glorified version of events for news stations and papers to make any money. The gun they found was an airsoft gun for Christ's sake, I don't remember exactly how they put what they were looking for in the search warrent but it cracked me up. Reports like these are generally there to keep the community feeling safe after a long absence of any tangible justice that has been served recently, to keep the people's mind off of the real problems. At least for the child's sake they didn't release his name, heh but not much good that does when they bend the law with regards to minors to be taken in a strictly literal sense.
I'm not sure how you came about the conclusion that I am a "retard." There is a great deal of flawed logic in your thought. My wish is to simply protect the rights of citizens using my resources and even putting myself in the crossfire to do so. There would be a monetary cost if you wanted to get technical, but no one involved would feel the affects of it. You know, joint efforts, law firms, support donations, human rights groups.
Well I'm off to play violent video games on my 360 and talk trash. Hope I make it through the night *crosses fingers*. Probably shouldn't make anymore comments about hurting people with my gaming speakers, basketball, baseball bat or paintball gun. I like my hobbies and wouldn't want someone taking my things.
Anticrawl
Anticrawl @ Jan 25th 2007 8:18AM
Haha, that is an interesting way of looking at things Brogan. I like your style.
baby sea tuna @ Jan 25th 2007 8:24AM
"19. I should contact the FBI/MI6, I've heard some threatening smack talk from many a pre-pubescent American.
Posted at 7:44AM on Jan 25th 2007 by JonFitt"
Sorry dude, Euro-n00bs just make easy targets...
Martin @ Jan 25th 2007 8:54AM
YAY!!! A Parent who actually parents instead of letting his kid shoot up the school and then blame it on videogames.
Anonymous @ Jan 25th 2007 8:30AM
People might be laughing this off, but it's really no laughing matter after recent events. Just a week ago we got word that a kidnapped boy was playing Xbox Live on the kidnappers 360, so asmuch as adolescent minds would like to believe that what happens on Live is some kind of joke, the people at the other end ARE real, and you do not know what they are capable of. I imagine the dad overheard an actual plot from the boy his son was playing the game with, with details and all of it. If I were a parent, I would have done the exact same thing (well, I'd have called the police not the..FBI). Even if the kid wasn't serious about the threat he was making, even harboring the thought of it is enough that he should probably be seeking mental help. Makes you wonder what kind of maniac is on the other side of the Xbox Live headset.
Anticrawl @ Jan 25th 2007 8:43AM
Uh oh baby sea tuna, better back off before I ring up the United Nations for you threatening the mass genocide of European people which escalates into World War III.
The other day I was talking on Xbox Live and I told a complete stranger I was going to work overtime without my bosses consent. The next day I awoke to the department of labor, who proceeded to break both of my legs and put my car up on blocks.
Anticrawl
Jake @ Jan 25th 2007 9:44AM
Man, America is going to hell. Our "freedoms" don't even exist any more. I mean, you can't even verbally threaten to murder a bunch of people, including them, at their school without some over-reactive snob parents and big brother giving you a bad time. I wish I lived in Europe where life is perfect and our governments are innocent.
LongshotX @ Jan 25th 2007 9:48AM
A better story would be how Gears of War is #7 on Japanese game charts.
AirIntake @ Jan 25th 2007 9:51AM
It's only a short amount of time now before people will get arrested for death threats for telling someone that you're going to kill them during a GoW deathmatch.
Guy: "But I meant in the game, as Marcus, with my chainsaw bayonet!"
FBI: "Sure you did, kid, sure you did. Enjoy Gitmo!"
Steve @ Jan 25th 2007 10:14AM
It's good to see one of those shit talking little pukes on Live get seven shades of shit scared out of him. Maybe this'll teach the other griefers on XBL that YOU ARE NOT ANAONYMOUS AND QUITE EASY TO TRACK DOWN.
nuero @ Jan 25th 2007 10:29AM
@32
Yeah there really is very little difference between threats of a school shooting and talking about your "frags" or whatever on a game. Man, The Institution is totally whack here!
JPsithlord @ Jan 25th 2007 10:50AM
hahaha
RODNEY @ Jan 25th 2007 10:51AM
I love the idiots here
i bet if the kid really DID shoot up his schools you assholes would be complaining about "WHY DIDN'T THEY DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT"
Heres the thing with the the FBI or ANY Agency like that
Everything thing they do or choice they make, either saves and or risk human lifes
jarrettcp @ Jan 25th 2007 11:14AM
In this day .... you error on the side of caution. Not sure where you have been Anticrawl and what freedoms you are trying to stand up for....but when kids today start making lists of who they want to kill. When kids bring weapons to school. When a kid kills a principal(Wisconsin I believe)..what are you to do? Seriously???
You are want to be proactive....go to your neighborhood schools and denounce this stupidity instead of claiming " you are putting yourself in the crosshairs" I could care or less if he had an airgun. Now if he would have taken that airgun to school and someone mistaken it for a real gun .. then what?
One of my civil liberties is to send my kids to school without the threat of some knucklehead bringing a gun (airgun) to school. There is no need for it. Can you think of one? Didn't think so. So whose liberties are being threatened? The kid that makes the dumb ass threat or the millions of parents peace of mind???
I applaud the parent that made the call...had he not and someones kid(s) got hurt.... can you imagine the public outcry??
Ian @ Jan 25th 2007 6:19PM
Heh, I didn't think this would get published but if this kid can get busted what about all the other threats on Live. Theres enough screaming of "I'm going to kill you!" or "Your gonna be raped" to lock away a bunch of people.
beesnipe @ Jan 25th 2007 2:29PM
"but it's unclear if his Xbox was returned."
Lawl
Kibbles @ Jan 25th 2007 4:22PM
Denny Crane.
geves @ Jan 25th 2007 4:13PM
they took his 360 as evidence?
does that mean the 360 is recording our conversations!?
my tin-foil hat is useless now!!!
kftgr @ Jan 25th 2007 5:56PM
@37:
Error on the side of caution?
I'd rather not have the police on my ass if I talk in a private conversation on Live while drunk and spout off bullshit, because someone was paranoid and authorities think a _third-hand_ report is worth the time and my tax dollars to investigate and blow out of proportion enough to accuse me of inducing public panic.
From the original report, the only "public" that was panicked was the CA teen & father, and the authorities they contacted. It was only after the police got involved that there's "public panic" -- but as the report puts it, people are uneasy and tense, but not "fire in a theater" panicked.
Wei @ Jan 25th 2007 6:10PM
@40
Lol. You made my day....
@5
"from a stranger, over a headset" That's a good point really. I mean I could say I'm going to bring a gun to a school in L.A. and I live in Florida...would they end up shutting the school down. I'm not saying bomb and shooting threats are not worth looking into, but there are a lot of people on Live, and they talk a lot of smack.
Abscissa @ Jan 25th 2007 8:36PM
There's three WTFs here:
1. Why did the dad go straight to the FBI as opposed to, oh, maybe the school and the police?
2. What did they need the actual XBox for? It doesn't archive old conversations on the hard drive, does it?
3. Why do people keep going on and on and on about how terrible it supposedly is "in this day and age..." when "this day and age" has the LOWEST teenage crime rate in American history. (People who insist otherwise need to lay off the ABC "Action News" televised tabloids and pick up some *real* journalism.)