Late Monday night, 2-year-old Darisabel Baez died from injuries sustained from a brutal beating by her mother's boyfriend on Sunday. The boyfriend, Harve Johnson, reportedly used a video game controller.We've received numerous tips and followed various developments about this horrific story over the past few days. We've decided to post about it now, in part, to open up a space for shared discussion through which we may experience relief. However base it may seem in light of the real tragedy, many of us are particularly concerned about the opportunity for mainstream media and those ignorant persons who target our industry to sensationalize a trivial fact about Darisabel's death. That Johnson had in his hand a game controller is no evidence that the game controller and, specifically, the games he likely played with the controller were in any way a catalyst for his heinous crime. But that's a message we fear might be spread.
In our struggle to comprehend the merciless death of an innocent 2-year-old we might grasp at understandings that are wrong. The best you can do is to know and uphold that video games did not cause this unimaginable expression of violence. Please feel free to share your own respectful thoughts and feelings in the comments below.
