Taskmaster
06-29-2008, 11:59 PM
Grand Theft Auto IV contains break-ins, muggings
Teen gangs decide to re-enact scenes in real life
Police say they couldn't separate fact from fiction
THE world's top-selling video game has been blamed for a two-hour crime rampage by a gang of six teens in New York.
The gang decided to take Grand Theft Auto IV from the television screen to the streets of Long Island.
In the video game, which has sold more than 8.5 million copies worldwide, players shoot police, sell drugs and car-jack vehicles.
The game, released in Australia last month, is the No 1-selling game on the Xbox 360 console and is rated MA15+ in Australia,
In the real-life re-enactment of the game, the crazed youths' rampage involved mugging, several break-ins and an attempted car-jacking in Garden City.
"They decided they were going to go out to commit robberies and emulate the character Nico Belic in the particularly violent video game Grand Theft Auto," said Nassau County Police detective-lieutenant Raymond Cote.
"These teens have difficulty separating fact from fiction, fantasy from reality. It was quite alarming."
Police said that the rampage began at 11.30pm on Tuesday when teenagers Brandon Cruz, 15, Gurnoor Singh, 14, Samuel Philip, 16, and Jaspreet Singh, 17, were sitting in Memorial Park in New Hyde Park looking for something to do.
Police said the youths decided to act out the game, in which players live out the life of Belic, an Eastern European criminal who uses murder and robbery to rise to the top of the underworld in "Liberty City", which has a close similarity to New York City.
"They were bored and decided this was a good idea," Lt Cote said.
According to police, the boys first mugged a man at a bus stop near the park, beat him and knocked out some teeth.
They then broke into some sheds and garages, stole bats and crowbars and met up with a couple more teens to continue the rampage.
The six then attempted to stage some car-jackings in Garden City. It was game over when one of their would-be victims - a 23-year-old woman in a 2008 BMW - called the police, who quickly arrested them.
All four of the original teen plotters were arrested, along with the two youths who joined them, Stephen Attard, 18, and Dylan Laird, 17.
They were all charged with first-degree robbery, except for Jaspreet Singh, who was charged with possession of stolen property. Other charges were pending.
Police would not say specifically how they knew the teens' crimes were motivated by Grand Theft Auto and not by some other motive. They said they discovered it during their investigation.
New York Post
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23933866-5002700,00.html
Teen gangs decide to re-enact scenes in real life
Police say they couldn't separate fact from fiction
THE world's top-selling video game has been blamed for a two-hour crime rampage by a gang of six teens in New York.
The gang decided to take Grand Theft Auto IV from the television screen to the streets of Long Island.
In the video game, which has sold more than 8.5 million copies worldwide, players shoot police, sell drugs and car-jack vehicles.
The game, released in Australia last month, is the No 1-selling game on the Xbox 360 console and is rated MA15+ in Australia,
In the real-life re-enactment of the game, the crazed youths' rampage involved mugging, several break-ins and an attempted car-jacking in Garden City.
"They decided they were going to go out to commit robberies and emulate the character Nico Belic in the particularly violent video game Grand Theft Auto," said Nassau County Police detective-lieutenant Raymond Cote.
"These teens have difficulty separating fact from fiction, fantasy from reality. It was quite alarming."
Police said that the rampage began at 11.30pm on Tuesday when teenagers Brandon Cruz, 15, Gurnoor Singh, 14, Samuel Philip, 16, and Jaspreet Singh, 17, were sitting in Memorial Park in New Hyde Park looking for something to do.
Police said the youths decided to act out the game, in which players live out the life of Belic, an Eastern European criminal who uses murder and robbery to rise to the top of the underworld in "Liberty City", which has a close similarity to New York City.
"They were bored and decided this was a good idea," Lt Cote said.
According to police, the boys first mugged a man at a bus stop near the park, beat him and knocked out some teeth.
They then broke into some sheds and garages, stole bats and crowbars and met up with a couple more teens to continue the rampage.
The six then attempted to stage some car-jackings in Garden City. It was game over when one of their would-be victims - a 23-year-old woman in a 2008 BMW - called the police, who quickly arrested them.
All four of the original teen plotters were arrested, along with the two youths who joined them, Stephen Attard, 18, and Dylan Laird, 17.
They were all charged with first-degree robbery, except for Jaspreet Singh, who was charged with possession of stolen property. Other charges were pending.
Police would not say specifically how they knew the teens' crimes were motivated by Grand Theft Auto and not by some other motive. They said they discovered it during their investigation.
New York Post
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23933866-5002700,00.html