A 9-year-old boy was allegedly stabbed to death by a 25-year-old "friend" because of a Tony Hawk game, and this is possibly one of the most messed up game-related stories we've ever seen.
According to reports, Anthony Maldonado was visiting his family in Harlem and engrossed in his new PlayStation system with his adult killer Alejandro Morales. The boy's family had briefly left the 9-year-old in the care of Morales during the night while they were playing the Tony Hawk game. That's when he stabbed him the chest.
"He was a friend. I can't believe this happened," says the boy's uncle, Carlos Juela. "He doesn't act right on the street but he always minded his manners in the house."
The boy's grandfather apparently blamed the videogame: ""Anthony was playing ... on PlayStation when his friend came and stabbed him. My grandson died over a video game."
Quite how the game is to blame is anybody's guess, but both the grandfather and the original news story say he was killed "over" it, despite there being no details as to how or why. Did Morales want to steal it? Did he ragequit violently? Nobody seems to know. But then, considering the fact that nobody knows if Morales was the boy's cousin or just a family friend, I can't be too surprised.
In fact, there is so much wrong about this story I don't know where to stand. First of all, what's a 9-year-old boy doing with a 25-year-old "friend"? Second of all, why would you leave him in the care of someone who doesn't "act right" on the streets, regardless of whether or not he "minded his manners"? Third of all, why in the blue Hell would you live in Harlem?
This story is definitely one of the most messed up game-related stories we've seen.
Anthony Maldonado, 9, stabbed to death over video game while visiting family in Harlem [NY Daily News via GoNintendo]
Contest:
1:00 PM on 01.03.2010
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Wha-?
if you don't act right out there like hell if I'm letting you into my home.
My condolences whether you do or not.
A) Joke about Sony fanboys.
B) Joke about how fucked up Harlem is.
In any event this is mightily fucked up and my sympathies to the family.
Anyone who responds seriously to this post is a retard.
Over =/= because of
Let's not get into our usual over-defensive mode until people actually DO start blaming video games, yes?
Kid shoulda been packin'.
You hear that? Tony Hawk Ride KILLS
//Seriously, that's messed up - condolences to the family, hope that bastard gets his comeuppance.
Christ.
At what point do you think "hmm, this guy sure acts weird in public, but he's quite polite indoors... yeah, I'll just leave my child with him".
sad, but true...
"This is a serious request: please stop posting these stories. They depress both myself and my image of the world around me. The incidents are only loosely related to games and are typically just sad. Stuff like this happens all the time over all sorts of things, including games, and I'd prefer not to get sad reading Destructoid just because a game happens to be somewhat related to a person's death and the subsequent tragedy that it causes their family.
My condolences whether you do or not."
Because that is understandably painful to watch.
But in seriousness, this is a major flaw in their parenting. If someone has behavior problems at all, you do not leave them looking after your kid.
You don't see people leaving a pyromaniac in charge of a petrol station now, do you?
I halfway agree. But does anyone here live in harlem besides me? I'm sure in the same way Mr. Sterling implies the ignorance of the boy's grandfather, he's shown his own about New York City real-estate. There are condos in Harlem now going for a million+, so I'm not sure what he's referring to...
There are bad areas in Harlem as well, just like everywhere.
Astounding brilliance here sir, thanks.
I grew up in Detroit, west of the river. So maybe Harlem isn't like where I grew up. But I know that parts of it are, and it is completely unfair to criticize a parent for making these alleged "choices" when there are no real alternatives.
Still I don't see what him playing video games had to do with it.
Most, if not all, VG related murders were more related to insanity than video games.
"Not every gamer is a white suburban bitch with no comprehension of how the rest of us live."
I find it ridiculous that you would try to make this a racial issue.
That's race, class, and gender.
Triple Threat!
Not the guy who stabbed the kid.
As if video games had some kind of subliminal mind control feature that made him do this. It couldn't possibly of been that the man in question had severe mental problems.
Nah, that's stupid. It was the game.
I almost agree. The reason I don't fully agree is because these are always the default news stories when nothing else is happening, so we kind of have to have them, as saddening as they may be.
Makes me want to move to Rapture, pre-ADAM. Away from all the Jerry Springers and psychos. What's even more depressing is the fact that this kind of shit could never happen with movies, music, if even books. Then it just would have been: "Man stabs kid to death" instead of "Horrid videogame causes man to stab innocent child who probably was in an orphanage run by kittens probably"
Oh yeah, and also negligence here... pedophile there... stabbing this... tragic that... blah blah.
This is as ignorant as you can get.
As far as why the kid's family would live in Harlem, it seems likely that they're not psychologically able to improve their situation. An environment like that can wear people down to the point where they can't maintain the emotional strength or the sheer force of will necessary to better themselves.
Gah. I'm putting way too much thought into this. Shit like this just makes ny head hurt. *hits post*
And tragic as this story is, I do love how Jim always finds the gaming related crime stories. I imagine him sat at home surrounded by Police scanners, speed-reading copies of the Daily Yokel.
And casting the blame at the foot of videogames is fair? It's ironic satire.
People in Harlem can afford Playstations?
You don't need money when you've got a baseball bat and you steal for a living.
Aww...now I feel bad.
Leave it to a Sterling post to bring out all of the bigots.