On Sunday, a 13 year-old Pennsylvania teenager stabbed his 16 year-old brother in the chest because the older brother would not give up a video game controller, according to an Associated Press article.
Not that it matters, but it didn’t say what system it was.
Jahmir Ricks is being charged as an adult for killing his brother Antwan Ricks, which is why his name is being released to the press. It was unclear from the article, but Jahmir faces either a first-degree or third-degree murder charge, assault, recklessly endangering another person and possession of instruments of crime.
The police told the Associated Press the “rules of the house” were that the person who lost had to give someone else a chance to play. Apparently Antwan really kept wanting to play.
My question is, where were their parents while their son murdered their other son?
12 Comments to Pennsylvania Teenager Stabs and Kills Brother over Video Game Controller
by: Pete
On July 17, 2007 at 6:22 pm
I wonder why he’s being convicted as an adult. There was a crime in Canada not too long ago where a girl had killed her entire family and wasn’t convicted as an adult. I know we’re talking about a death here, I guess I’m just question the law here.
Once again I hate how this is bad publicity for Video Games and once again bad parenting should be blamed
by: Meeshaw
On July 17, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Im sure the parents will blame (or even sue) the maker of the console or whatever game they were playing. Time for the blame game.
by: Hugh Jas
On July 17, 2007 at 7:09 pm
“My question is, where were their parents while their son murdered their other son?”
That is not a legitimate question as a normal 16-year-old is sufficiently old enough to be home alone by himself and to even supervise younger siblings.
A much better question is what moved a mere 13-year-old to use a weapon against his own brother. Sure typical brothers have physical altercations on occasion, but pulling a weapon and using it on one’s brother is certainly NOT normal behavior especially for a 13-year-old. Years of conditioning through exposure to violent media including video games certainly could have played a role in moving the boy to such extreme violence in the face of anger.
by: gjvbfjuyh
On July 17, 2007 at 7:30 pm
by: Justin
On July 17, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Maybe it was the game that made him get so violent… like Grand theft auto, or even more worse games then that, but… I still think theres more involved here.. I think the 16 yr old was betting him to do it, and pissed him off, then he stabbed him.
by: Arangil
On July 17, 2007 at 7:44 pm
I’ve been saying this for years and I’ll say it again, video games are not the cause of violence. Just because a video game controller was involved in this doesn’t mean anything. Obviously there was some long standing and deep seated animosity between the two of them for this to have occured. The fact that they were playing a video game means nothing, there was violence before video games and there will be violence in the future. People should step up and accept responsibility for there actions instead of just passing along the blame.
by: Dirk Beijers
On July 17, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Its true parents should be blamed for the kids behaviour, its also true that typical agressive games do have a bad influence on childrens behavior its not that the games should be forbidden not at all but parents should be more supervised on what kind of games their children play and how far they lose their selfs into it.
Becouse when children do get addicted to typical agressive games they will do anything for just playing the game and even in the most extreme, killing the one who is holding them back. thats why the parents should react at certain way to avoid the agressive behaviour that could eventualy lead to death.
so thats why i think the parents should definetely get blamed no matter if they were home at that time or gave the responsibility to their 16-year old son.
P.s. besides this would never happend if Antwan just gave his little brother the chance to play, when he had the right to play. (another blame to the parents: “Be consistent in teaching your kid to abide by the house rules”.)
by: Dirk Beijers
On July 17, 2007 at 8:39 pm
just one more thing to say during a regular brother to brother fight about playing a game they dont just grab a knife and threat their brother and if it comes so far you would never stab your brother to death it is for sure the game drove him so far to do anything violent like that, ofcourse the brother would have pissed him off and dared him to do it but that isn’t a reason for just a regular kid to stab his brother in the chest with a knife. Besides we dont know anything about their backgrounds. it could be that the kid had some kind of social distortion or the social relation ship between the family was wrecked, yes its true that could be possible but in any case the bad influence of violent games played role in this incident, but just a game can’t cause an incident it could only stimulate somoeone’s behaviour. as i said the game (creators of the game or whatever) shouldnt be blamed but the parents.
by: Dirk Beijers
On July 17, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I think that was about it.
by: Jose Perez
On July 17, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I’m not happy about the situation at all, but I kinda hope they were playing something like tetris or super monkey ball. That would really make people think…lol.
by: Pete
On July 18, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I agree, If those kids we’re playing something like Nintendogs that would really just stuff it in the face of the media.
And statistically speaking, if you take ALL the cases of where a dispute like this happened in other homes (where someone wouldnt let go of the controller) and compare it to the ones where an incident, an extreme one, like this happened, the percentage would be minimal. This kid NEEDS help and it’s his parents who should have spotted that, blaming this incident on video games is just pure ignorance.
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