Don't mess with Xbox fanboys

[Jolly Rogers]

CNN news

(CNN) -- Authorities in Deltona, Florida, have arrested and charged four people in the killings of six people in a rental home, Volusia County's sheriff said Sunday.

Sheriff Ben Johnson said the murder was organized by a man who was angry because he believed his Xbox video game system and some clothes had been stolen.

Alleged ringleader Troy Victorino, 27, has not confessed, but three teenagers Johnson said Victorino recruited to assist him have, Johnson said. The three were identified as Robert Cannon, 18; Jerone Hunter, 18; and Michael Salas, 18.

All are charged with first degree murder and armed burglary.

The Associated Press reported that Victorino has a criminal record.

The four killers, armed with aluminum baseball bats, forced their way into the home where the victims were in beds early Friday morning, and beat them to death -- just as Victorino planned, Johnson said.

The victims, four men and two women, also sustained knife wounds, but autopsies showed the blunt force trauma from the bats killed them, the sheriff's office said.

The victims had no chance to arm themselves or fight back, Johnson said. "There was no way they could really defend themselves."

All of the victims experienced severe trauma -- and one body was so badly mangled that it has not yet been officially identified, he said.

"This is the worst thing I've ever seen in my career," Johnson said.

Johnson called for all four to face the death penalty, although that usually is decided by a prosecuting attorney.

Five of the victims were identified as Jonathan Gleason, 18; Roberto Gonzalez, 28; Michelle Nathan, 19; Francisco Roman, 30; and Anthony Vega, 34.

Investigators believe the attack occurred about 1 a.m. Friday. The bodies were found Friday about 6:30 a.m. when a co-worker, alarmed because one of the people failed to show up for work, went to the home and found the blood-spattered crime scene.

Victorino and Hunter were taken in for questioning on Sunday. Hunter confessed, and led authorities to Cannon and Salas, said Johnson.

Johnson said he does not believe any other people were involved in the incident.

[Terpfen]

A better moral may be, "Don't mess with criminals."

[eugimon]

man, that's so brutal.. and you know what happens when something brutal happens over video games... yup, the democrats and michael moore come out of the wood work and blame it on the video games.

make's me sad to be a democrat.

[Terpfen]

You can always change your voter registration--something I did two years ago.

[myk]

Ok. So someone in the victim's camp supposedly stole an X-box? Well, act like a criminal, be treated like one...

[the white drew carey]

Ok. So someone in the victim's camp supposedly stole an X-box? Well, act like a criminal, be treated like one...

Yeah, an allegedly stolen X-box is justification for a brutal sextuple-homicide.

[That NOS Guy]

Eh, "life is cheap" anyone?

-NOS

Annoyingly so.

[CF18]

Ok.  So someone in the victim's camp supposedly stole an X-box?  Well, act like a criminal, be treated like one...

Yeah all that base on a totally incomplete news report huh? Take a look here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...0832EDT0437.DTL

Joe Abshire, Belanger's brother-in-law, said she described heading to the vacant house to go swimming one day and finding about six people living there. The squatters were kicked out, but deputies were called to the grandparents' house six times in 10 days before the killings. The victims reported a tire-slashing at their home and a threat.

The squatters warned Belanger that "they were going to come back there and beat her with a baseball bat when she was sleeping," Abshire, who is married to Erin's sister Jennifer, told The Sun of Lowell, Mass., for Sunday editions.

Victorino complained that his belongings were removed from the grandparents' house while he was in jail following a July 29 arrest for battery, Johnson said. He said Victorino found his things boxed up at the victims' house and took them after the killings.

This case have nothing to to with the XBox. It is just our lovely reporter from CNN/AP etc. creatively twist the story to make it sound more special than a gang murder. The real issue is the police fail to ack on the threats, and the crappy news headline all over the place.

[bandit29]

Ok. So someone in the victim's camp supposedly stole an X-box? Well, act like a criminal, be treated like one...

We have some real "intelligent" ones here at MW....

What a horrible crime... over nothing really

[KingNor]

man, that's so brutal.. and you know what happens when something brutal happens over video games... yup, the democrats and michael moore come out of the wood work and blame it on the video games.

make's me sad to be a democrat.

you'll notice it was over an xbox and some clothes, but are the clothes named by brandname? no.

this guy was obviously crazy, and protective of his stuff, or had some kind of hatred for these people that wwent beyond them stealing his stuff.

but.. it will be made to look like videogames faults.

(i hear hitler had a gameboy btw)

[Nightbat]

(i hear hitler had a gameboy btw)

actualy, that was a Sinclair ZX81, I should know, I had one of those in the past

[Ghadrack]

This case have nothing to to with the XBox. It is just our lovely reporter from CNN/AP etc. creatively twist the story to make it sound more special than a gang murder. The real issue is the police fail to ack on the threats, and the crappy news headline all over the place.

That is a pretty astute observation that I am glad you made. I really did not think of the ramifications, I was just thinking how terrible it is that those poor people were brutally murdered, but there is absolutely spin in that article. I expect that they will have some reference to the game Manhunt listed in the updates to the article in the next few days. None of the accused's posessions other than his video game system are listed by brand, in stead of just reporting the story they wrote up a catchy tag-line "The X-Box homicide".

Overall it is a pretty terrible story, an aweful thing to happen to an 18 year old girl and her family/friends.

[Coota0]

That story has to be one of the worst written reports I've ever seen. I can't believe the writer works for CNN. You would think someone above him would have looked at that article before putting it on the web.

[Oihan]

CNN news

(CNN) -- Authorities in Deltona, Florida, have arrested and charged four people in the killings of six people in a rental home, Volusia County's sheriff said Sunday.

Sheriff Ben Johnson said the murder was organized by a man who was angry because he believed his Xbox video game system and some clothes had been stolen.

Alleged ringleader Troy Victorino, 27, has not confessed, but three teenagers Johnson said Victorino recruited to assist him have, Johnson said. The three were identified as Robert Cannon, 18; Jerone Hunter, 18; and Michael Salas, 18.

All are charged with first degree murder and armed burglary.

The Associated Press reported that Victorino has a criminal record.

The four killers, armed with aluminum baseball bats, forced their way into the home where the victims were in beds early Friday morning, and beat them to death -- just as Victorino planned, Johnson said.

The victims, four men and two women, also sustained knife wounds, but autopsies showed the blunt force trauma from the bats killed them, the sheriff's office said.

The victims had no chance to arm themselves or fight back, Johnson said. "There was no way they could really defend themselves."

All of the victims experienced severe trauma -- and one body was so badly mangled that it has not yet been officially identified, he said.

"This is the worst thing I've ever seen in my career," Johnson said.

Johnson called for all four to face the death penalty, although that usually is decided by a prosecuting attorney.

Five of the victims were identified as Jonathan Gleason, 18; Roberto Gonzalez, 28; Michelle Nathan, 19; Francisco Roman, 30; and Anthony Vega, 34.

Investigators believe the attack occurred about 1 a.m. Friday. The bodies were found Friday about 6:30 a.m. when a co-worker, alarmed because one of the people failed to show up for work, went to the home and found the blood-spattered crime scene.

Victorino and Hunter were taken in for questioning on Sunday. Hunter confessed, and led authorities to Cannon and Salas, said Johnson.

Johnson said he does not believe any other people were involved in the incident.

That's about the dumbest and most retarded thing I've ever heard. I mean....you'd have to be f'ing retarded to do something so horrible such as that over a stupid console. You've lost a video game console? So what?! It's not like it's the end of the world! Not like it's going to set you back years and years from buying another XBox....geez. People these days...scary sh*t. I hope those f*cks get life or death.

Edit: Is sh*t automatically changed to poo or something? Or did a mod change that for me?

Edited August 9, 2004 by Oihan

[eriku]

man, that's so brutal.. and you know what happens when something brutal happens over video games... yup, the democrats and michael moore come out of the wood work and blame it on the video games.

make's me sad to be a democrat.

You obviously don't know much about Michael Moore. Now I remember why political discussions aren't allowed on this board.

As for the topic, it's clear that there were other elements involved here. I'm sure there had probably been many things leading up to this incident and finally things just came to a head. These people had it in them to do such an evil deed wether an X-Box was involved or not. I'm sure if it had been a six-pack of Hamms stolen the outcome would have been the same.

[bsu legato]

So....does florida have the death penaly? These guys need to fry.

[eriku]

So....does florida have the death penaly? These guys need to fry.

That's a good question. You'd think they almost certainly would since Jeb is the governor. The only thing a Bush likes more than executing someone is executing someone that's retarded.

Sorry, I've been listening to too much David Cross.

[Golden Arms]

Florida does have the death penalty. The electric Chair is named "OLd SPARKY". The really sad part about this story is that this guy was able to convince others to aid him in his murdering rampage with ball bats. They even killed a dog. Democrats won't be the only ones ranting over video games. This story is normally fodder for the religious right of the republican party. Dems are usually very liberal in regards to social issues such as video games unless your name is Tipper Gore.

Do you guys remember when Kids were getting shot over Air Jordans?

Edited August 10, 2004 by Golden Arms

[Isamu Atreides 86]

Florida does have the death penalty. The electric Chair is named "OLd SPARKY". The really sad part about this story is that this guy was able to convince others to aid him in his murdering rampage with ball bats. They even killed a dog. Democrats won't be the only ones ranting over video games. This story is normally fodder for the religious right of the republican party. Dems are usually very liberal in regards to social issues such as video games unless your name is Tipper Gore.

Do you guys remember when Kids were getting shot over Air Jordans?

yep, i remember when guys were getting shot over wearing a damn chicago bulls hat backwards. people always kill for the stupidest poo imaginable.

PLEASE LEAVE THE POLITICAL BULLSHIT OUT OF THIS THREAD

[CID]

This is senseless killing of six human life and a dog. The moron and his "crew" will have to face their due process.

Those are one damn idiotic morons.

[gerwalk25]

Dems are usually very liberal in regards to social issues such as video games unless your name is Tipper Gore.

And Joe Liberman.

Edited August 10, 2004 by gerwalk25

[eugimon]

man, that's so brutal.. and you know what happens when something brutal happens over video games... yup, the democrats and michael moore come out of the wood work and blame it on the video games.

make's me sad to be a democrat.

You obviously don't know much about Michael Moore. Now I remember why political discussions aren't allowed on this board.

As for the topic, it's clear that there were other elements involved here. I'm sure there had probably been many things leading up to this incident and finally things just came to a head. These people had it in them to do such an evil deed wether an X-Box was involved or not. I'm sure if it had been a six-pack of Hamms stolen the outcome would have been the same.

uhm, yeah, I apologize for the democrat thing... but hey, liberman and gore's wife made names for themselves blaming youth crime on video games, movies and musiv videos...

but michael moore on the other hand, he is not above twisting tragedy to suit his own political agenda..

[eugimon]

Florida does have the death penalty. The electric Chair is named "OLd SPARKY". The really sad part about this story is that this guy was able to convince others to aid him in his murdering rampage with ball bats. They even killed a dog. Democrats won't be the only ones ranting over video games. This story is normally fodder for the religious right of the republican party. Dems are usually very liberal in regards to social issues such as video games unless your name is Tipper Gore.

Do you guys remember when Kids were getting shot over Air Jordans?

the thing I hate about these stories is the way they sensationalize these tragedies.. many people here have already said it but these news organizations.. and I don't care what their party line is.. be it Fox news network or CNN.. they take tragedies, like this incident, or columbine or the air jordan shootings and they try to make it something that it isn't so it sticks in people's heads...

this wasn't about an xbox...

columbine wasn't about Doom and it was because of the availability of guns, or marilyn manson or clinton bombing sudan.

the air jordan shootings weren't about shoes...

but the freaking media and politicians and entertainers like rush and moore and fox news network want you to think that it's about how things are making people commit crimes... they want you to think that if everybody just listens to what they listen, play what they play, watch what they watch the world will be so much better and they don't care if they take a horrible isolated incident and turn it into some big national drama and parade around the victims so they can make a few bucks or win the next election...

all just so much sacrifice on the altar or money and power.

[Impreszive]

This is a sad commentary on the value of human life. No excuses. The man who perpetrated the crime was blatantly sick and twisted, and six people paid the price with their lives for his (and his compatriots) disregard for human life.

I see things like this and I have to wonder if we are really worth saving as a race sometimes. I think I am just losing the faith that we can be more than we are. Sorry guys.

[Godzilla]

Um Columbine was about the Matrix. Anyways, what matters is that these ppl died over small stuff. It shows how cheap life is regardless it was over Air Jordans, Xbox or even clothes. Yes, the media sensationalize. And guess what? It sells. It definitely got all of your attention, didn't it?

[Druna Skass]

Killed someone because they stole his xbox...

OK that guy seriously needed to get out more...

[Sarensaas]

They had the Charles Manson murders on, showing how the girls who were in on those murders are now trying very hard to get out on parole. Makes me think that the young guys responsible for these Florida murders will probably get life and 20 years from now they will be begging to get out saying,"We were just kids, following this guys orders! We were naive and brainwashed, but we are grown adults now, and we don't deserve a life sentence now that we have realized what we have done". Sigh...