Shooting suspect admitted heavy use of video games

EPHRATA - A 14-year-old Moses Lake boy who allegedly shot his parents as they were sleeping Friday night said he was angry with them because they had prohibited his use of electronic media as punishment. The boy told Moses Lake police officers "he quit playing violent video games because he thought they were making him more violent," according to court records.

The boy said he shot his parents because he was being punished for getting in trouble at school, the Moses Lake Christian Academy. According to a statement released Tuesday by the school, the boy's father Jonothan Brooks, 38, was released from the hospital Monday. His mother, Elizabeth Brooks, 39, is still undergoing treatment prior to surgery.

The boy appeared in Grant County Juvenile Court on Monday, and a hearing to determine whether or not the boy will be tried as an adult was scheduled for next Wednesday. Prosecutor Angus Lee said Monday that while no decision has been made yet, "right now, that (trying the boy as an adult) is the route we're pursuing."

Bail for the boy was set at $500,000.

The boy told police officers he had been late to class and as a result had been given detention. His parents told him he would be grounded from all electronic devices, including video games. "I asked how much he played video games, and he told me '24/7,' up until he got his electronics taken away," an MLPD officer wrote in the police report. "He said he would play video games as much as he could, sometimes all day when he could."

The boy also told police his father had told him before going to bed that Saturday would be a busy day, filled with basketball and chores, which allegedly made the boy angry. In addition, father and son had a talk about the boy's "ongoing disobedience," including taking a credit card from his parents.

The debate over the effect of violent media on society, according to the article "Brief History: Video-Game Violence" in Time magazine, has been ongoing since the first major case in 1976.

The journal Psychological Science published the result of a study this week, conducted by researchers at Ohio State University. The researchers were trying to determine if violent video games were a way to "blow off steam" or if they promoted violent habits that may transfer into real life.

The researchers found that young men who engaged in antisocial behavior when given a chance were readier to acknowledge feeling frustrated if they were stopped from the behavior, and were more attracted to violent games as a result. That helped relieve frustration, the study found.

So far, the studies on games and their affect on violence has been inconclusive, although there are studies that show brain chemistry changes when kids play violent games. But another Ohio State study, results released in December 2012, found an association between violent games and aggression, but didn't establish a direct cause and effect relationship.