KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A $246 million
lawsuit was filed against the designer, marketer and a retailer of
the video game series "Grand Theft Auto" by the families of two
people shot by teenagers apparently inspired by the game.
The suit claims marketer Sony Computer Entertainment America
Inc., designers Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games,
and Wal-Mart, are liable for $46 million in compensatory damages and
$200 million in punitive damages.
Aaron Hamel, 45, a registered nurse, was killed and Kimberly
Bede, 19, of Moneta, Va., was seriously wounded when their cars were
hit June 25 by .22-caliber bullets as they passed through the Great
Smoky Mountains.
Stepbrothers William Buckner, 16, and Joshua Buckner, 14, of
Newport, were sentenced in August to an indefinite term in state
custody after pleading guilty in juvenile court to reckless
homicide, endangerment and assault.
The boys told investigators they got the rifles from a locked
room in their home and decided to randomly shoot at tractor-trailer
rigs, just like in the video game "Grand Theft Auto III."
In a suit filed Monday in Cocke County Circuit Court on behalf of
the victims, Miami lawyer Jack Thompson and local lawyer Richard
Talley alleged the game "inspires and trains players to shoot at
vehicles and persons."
"These kids simply decided to take the thrill of that game out to
Interstate 40 and started pointing at cars," Thompson said in a
telephone interview Tuesday.
Thompson, who said he sent letters to Sony and Wal-Mart to drop
the game before the shootings, said, "It's not like this is coming
out of the blue, they chose to ignore this danger."
San Mateo, Calif.-based Sony and Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart
did not return calls for comment Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges the
retail giant sold the game to the Buckners about a year before the
shootings.
Douglas Lowenstein, president of the industry Entertainment
Software Association, called the shootings "an unspeakable tragedy"
but said blaming a game played by millions for the boys' actions was
"misguided and counterproductive."
"There is no credible evidence that violent games lead to violent
behavior," he said. "While video games may provide a simple excuse
for the teenagers involved in this incident, responsibility for
violent acts belongs to those who commit them."
Thompson has made similar claims in the past and lost, notably a
$33 million lawsuit against video game makers stemming from the 1997
school shooting near Paducah, Ky., by a 14-year-old boy.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news
- web
sites) ruled in the case last year that it was "simply to far a
leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people
in a classroom."
