Salt Lake City mall shooter didn't own video games
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Feb 18th 2007 at 10:20AM }
Following Sulejman Talovic's murderous rampage through a Salt Lake City mall, killing five people and ending with Talovic's own death by police, the 21st century knee-jerk reaction of blame the video games emerged. After no games, consoles or PCs were seized from Talovic's home, it looked like the video game murderer angle may not emerge. Now Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said they found no evidence that violent video games played a part in Talovic's actions. He did not even own a computer or a console according to police. Police also found no religious or political motivations either. Sorry Jackie-boy, no headlines for you.
[Via GamePolitics]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
OddGod @ Feb 18th 2007 10:28AM
He must've watched a lot of violent news on tv. No doubt.
Thrawn @ Feb 18th 2007 10:28AM
This is stupid. Throughout human history the scurge that is the videogame has driven human violence. This occasion will be found to be no different. I bet no one checked his pockets for a Gameboy SP.
OddGod @ Feb 18th 2007 10:31AM
#2 - Is it wrong to hope that a brick layer plays too much Tetris on his GBA SP and decides to drop a boatload of bricks on someone because it seemed to "fit" and he very well deserved a "Tetris" for the murder?
ssuk @ Feb 18th 2007 10:33AM
So what logical conclusion can we bring from this? Violent TV, movies? No! Let's blame video games anyway and say he played them around friends! Damn video games, damn them!
Optimus Prime @ Feb 18th 2007 10:36AM
Easy. He had access to high powered weapons that have no purpose but to kill people... efficiently. But, never mind, lets blame video games.
Im glad i dont live in the USA.. or Iraq. Getting killed by random thugs while shopping? No thanks.
HotShotX @ Feb 18th 2007 10:47AM
Here's a start: Where the hell are his parents?
~HotShotX
Myke @ Feb 18th 2007 10:49AM
Ok, this guy is obviously a bit nuts, but seriously, he owned NOTHING in terms of electronic interactive entertainment? That's hard to find these days, and despite the crime that he commited, he looks like an average Joe, thats just really hard to believe, but it's a horrible tragedy that turns out to be a case-in-point for the defense that videogames don't create killers.
jay @ Feb 18th 2007 10:49AM
Scratch me up to the "glad I don't live in the US" list. Gun violence, sensationalist reporting, Jack Thompson and the image of trigger happy morons that have easy access to dangerous weapons.
grable @ Feb 18th 2007 10:56AM
Easy access to weapons helps, but it isnt the deciding factor here.
If someone realy wants to kill people, theyl find a way.
Mark @ Feb 18th 2007 11:07AM
Yeah the US sucks, unlike the idyllic rest of the world where it's problem-free and the morons don't have easy access to anything at all. We're glad you don't live here too.
holyice7 @ Feb 18th 2007 11:28AM
How about this angle; video games don't kill people, people without video games kill people!
TwilightKnight @ Feb 18th 2007 11:30AM
There are more things in American that can kill you then getting shot by some random person. Here is the top numbered ways you can die in American by percentile:
Heart Attack (28.5%)
Cancer (22.8%)
Stroke (6.7%)
Chronic bronchitis (5.1%)
Accidents (4.4%)
Diabetes (3.0%)
Flu (2.7%)
Alzheimer's senility (2.4%)
Kidney disease (1.7%)
Systemic infection (1.4%)
Suicide (1.3%)
Liver disease (1.1%)
High Blood Pressure (.8%)
Assault/homicide (.7%)
other (17.4%)
There is an almost double chance that you will kill yourself then someone else doing it for you. Even greater is an accident, esecially with cars. I think the last time I checked every year 43,000 people in America die from car accidents.
So ask yourself, should you be more worried about going in a mall and getting shot by some crazy person or stepping into a car or sidewalk crossing and getting hit?
The only reason why the news follows this and the real causes behind death is that it makes for great sensaionalist media. Because if it bleeds it leads.
Exick @ Feb 18th 2007 11:41AM
"he looks like an average Joe"
His family fled to the U.S. from Bosnia after Serb forces were committing genocide against people like him. Of course, everyone looks to see if he played video games.
will @ Feb 18th 2007 11:41AM
Gun violence? Not much.
Sensationalist reporting? ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!
Jack Thompson? He's only one nutcase.
The image of trigger happy morons that have easy access to dangerous weapons? Everyone that's not a felon has access. Extremely, Extremely few do. I think the image comes from A) european governments' promotion and B) the aforesaid sensationalist media. Which, and I'm not even talking about videogames here, is one of this countries' biggest problems. I don't know if you European folks have heard of Anna Nicole Smith, but if you haven't, thank God every day for the rest of your life that you haven't.
will @ Feb 18th 2007 11:43AM
*extremely few do anything is what I meant to say.
ahem.
I watch BBC news on PBS here all the time just beacuse they actually report on world events rather than focusing on an obsession with child rape and celebrity bullshit.
luke @ Feb 18th 2007 11:58AM
i dunno i just seen a truth smoking commercial and im pretty sure they managed to link all murders now to smoking, so thats the new culprit, the guy smoked a pack a day and killed everyone, its the only logical answer.
sheppy @ Feb 18th 2007 12:06PM
Funniest thing about the Truth movement is it's funded by the cigarette companies as part of a settlement.
OtakuCODE @ Feb 18th 2007 12:49PM
Optimus Prime: Presence and availability of guns on society has no correllation whatsoever to gun violence. (A good rundown of multiple studies that explains this is in the book "Nine Crazy Ideas in Science") There are many countries in the world that have the same or higher gun ownership rates as the US but much lower, or higher, gun crime rates. Unfortunately, violence is a complicated issue. It's unfortunate because people want everything to be "common sense" (a term originally created as an insult to the irrational beliefs of 'commoners') and refuse to deal with anything complicated.
sheppy @ Feb 18th 2007 12:55PM
OtakuCODE, you are right about one thing. The availability of weapons does not dictate the violence level (Canada has a higher ratio in gun owners). However, America remains the worlds leader in gun violence.
Fred Savage @ Feb 18th 2007 1:18PM
i think it would have more to do with this kid going through a war in bosnia.
Tim @ Feb 18th 2007 1:32PM
America is just more violent than Canada and we all know it. Time to get over it. I think the real reason this guy went bonkers was because he didn't have any video games. Kid just needed to get out his aggression in some GTA3 or something. If he'd done that instead, he'd be re-spawning at the hospital and killing more people as we speak. Which is better for everyone.
Axel @ Feb 18th 2007 1:34PM
No no no, that can't be right. Tell them to look harder. The boy probably stashed away his copy of San Andreas right before the rampage; for he wanted to cover up the gamer-turned-killer angle.
REUYL @ Feb 18th 2007 1:58PM
I need to find Jack Thompson's e-mail address so I can send this to him every day until GTA IV comes out.
Barbie Fu @ Feb 18th 2007 2:15PM
so are they saying that until video games depicted violence, no one ever considered it? no murder, rape, theft, or destruction until video games? or do video games emulate real life?.....you want FPS... the army is hiring, and the grafix are so life-like. (the death too)
Icupnimpn2 @ Feb 18th 2007 2:39PM
These shootings were a real tragedy. It's disheartening to see people like Jack Thompson try to twist events to further their own political agenda.
The shooter had no video games or computer games.
There's no evidence that the shooter was racially or religiously motivated.
Does every act have to have an external cause? I don't think so.
Mr Khan @ Feb 18th 2007 3:02PM
@ Dae Kim
Riiiight, cuz the whole premise of Islam was to destroy America, that was what Mohammed intended
So it was written in the Quran: America is a bunch of mofos, lets go shoot them!
(all preceding was sarcasm)
john @ Feb 18th 2007 3:32PM
@ Dae Kim ignorance at its best
He lived through the Bosnia genocide where 8,000 muslims were killed now guess what the other sides reason this was for "ethnic cleansing" and guess what major religion they were? Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Funny how this is hardly mentioned.
Now I cant remember but I believe I read how the UN took them somewhere where his family was betrayed or something.
john @ Feb 18th 2007 3:33PM
Also sure the Quran says non followers should be destroyed but guess what you can find the same quotes in the new and old testaments.
Zach @ Feb 18th 2007 4:39PM
FYI, for all you guys blaming Islam, the FBI already said there was no connection between the guy's religion and the shootings. Chances are he was just a nutcase. Islam has its share of problems, but this one wasn't one of them. Let's leave the dude's religion out of this and be glad there's not more fodder for Jackie T. in this case.
Dan @ Feb 18th 2007 4:57PM
I was just playing San Andreas... I feel the need to run down the street hitting people with a dildo.
Pat @ Feb 18th 2007 5:06PM
This is the exception that proves the rule...
Why do we feel the need to discuss violent videogames every time there is a shooting.
Scott @ Feb 18th 2007 5:18PM
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5234935 - Sounds like the kid was just a bad individual. That does happen sometimes...not every thing is the fault of video games, the media, or whatever.
I saw another article (http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=900702) where the press interviewed the Dad and the Dad didn't know where his son had gotten all the weapons and ammunition. The Father thinks that someone else was influencing him.
gunstarzero @ Feb 18th 2007 5:59PM
He didn't OWN videogames...he rented them from Gamefly.
Wulkar @ Feb 18th 2007 6:27PM
it was the lack of gaming....it drove him to kill
Sidepocket @ Feb 18th 2007 8:14PM
Like I have been saying....Hitler did not play GTA and then decide to cause mass genocide.
Huricos @ Feb 18th 2007 6:39PM
I bet it was the Joystiq comments that made him flip.
Mark my words, we'll see alot of Joystiq comments related murders in the coming times.
Mephistopheles @ Feb 18th 2007 7:49PM
You know, most violent crimes that involve firearms are not committed with legally obtained firearms. The overwhelming majority of firearm owners do not use them illegally. I really don't see how barring people from owning a gun would change anything. Besides, I could easily get a sword and run after people in the mall and hack them down to size. Would that be a much better story to read about? People who want to commit mass murder don't have to think hard for ways to do it. The will is the problem, not the means.
Grant @ Feb 18th 2007 8:33PM
What some people forget is that some people just suck, hate the world, and find that a random shooting spree is a good way to go out.
Also i think the high percentage of crime in the US can at least somewhat be attributed to our fast paced, high stress work environments.
Compared to many other countries, US citizens have NO LEGAL right to a vacation, and practocally no sick days, which i believe are also at the companies discretion. Some EU cxountries have a 3 week/a year legal minimum vacation time when you start, and it only goes up.
Not to meantion high materialistic values kinda throw things out of whack for the youth, and it only keeps getting worse.
boney @ Feb 18th 2007 11:21PM
i dont care what anyone says
Americans are morons, they think the average american has the brains to own a gun obviously not!! if the usa had the brains to ban guns they wouldn't have this problem in the 1st place. and they elected bush the biggest tard known and will be remembered in human existence.
spencer @ Feb 19th 2007 1:17PM
"All killers play videogames"
Proven false by contradiction.
"All videogame players can turn into killers."
Unfalsifiable.
It's nice to see that videogames aren't the cause of all rampages, but I don't see how this'll change public opinion.
Jake @ Feb 19th 2007 8:22AM
#12 wins the thread.
Violent crime in America is constantly overstated. It is extremely rampant in certain communities. But, the majority of America is pretty safe. It is when guys commit murder in our precious "safe" areas that people get freaked out and report it. Slums and Ghettos experience homicides all the damn time and you barely hear a word on it, cause it doesn't scare as many people.
At least violent crime in the US is down almost 50% since Goldeneye, almost certainly due to realistic, violent video games. ;)
the real Steve @ Feb 19th 2007 11:46AM
john, stop being so ignorant.
www.faithfreedom.org
steve @ Feb 19th 2007 10:42PM
see people need to play more violent video games to get all of their homicidal rage out
i mean when i was grounded from computer i had the urge to go on a homicidal rampage....
against the giant inflatable snowmen and giant snowglobes out in peoples lawns
i still kind of want to.....but they are all gone and i have my videogames back