Rob Fahey 11:06 (BST)
11/10/2004

Thompson links GTA with US school murder plot

Rockstar in the firing line as lawyer slams videogames once again

Florida-based lawyer Jack Thompson has launched his latest attack on the interactive entertainment industry, telling the media that Grand Theft Auto was used by a Massachusetts teenager to prepare for a planned massacre at his high school.

Sixteen year old Tobin Kerns was arrested after police discovered that he planned to kill students and teachers at his school on the anniversary of the 1999 Columbine massacre next April, and then to kill firefighters and police who responded to the emergency calls.

According to Thompson, detectives in the case told him that Grand Theft Auto was one of Kerns' "favourite games," and he has told the media that he believes the boy used the title to prepare for the planned massacre.

"The technique of killing civilians and then first-responders when they get there is the primary scenario to win in all the Grand Theft Auto games," he is quoted as saying in newspaper reports over the weekend, before going on to accuse GTA titles of being "killing simulators actually used by gangs."

Thompson, who styles himself as an expert on cases of alleged videogame violence, has launched repeated attacks on the games industry - including, most recently, claims that he was set to bring Rockstar to court over the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in Leicester, which he linked with the violent game Manhunt.

He has also previously accused Grand Theft Auto of influencing teenagers in Tennessee who shot and killed a driver on a local freeway, and in a move which raised eyebrows even among the usually receptive tabloid press, claimed that the Beltway Sniper, John Allen Muhammad, trained using Bungie's FPS title Halo - despite the fact that Muhammad was a US Army veteran with an expert qualification in rifle use.

However, the outspoken lawyer, who has previously targetted other entertainment industries and politicians with his campaigns, has yet to actually win a case against a videogame publisher - and no credible scientific link has been made between violent videogames and real-life acts of violence.