The lights are on
We've recieved numerous tips about the story of 19-year-old Justin Carter, a person who has been charged with making "terroristic threats." Some are circulating information that Carter made these threatening statements during or immediately after a League of Legends match. In truth, whether or not he was playing League of Legends has nothing to do with the matter.
The events of the case, which have gathered steam thanks to a community petition started by Carter's family, took place in February. A tip was provided to the Austin, Texas police department after Carter made a threatening statement on another person's Facebook page that stated, "I'm f***ed in the head, alright. I think I'm going to shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down and eat the beating heart of one of them."
According to New Braunfels, Texas police lieutenant John Wells, Austin police issued a warrant for Carter's arrest after discovering that his father lives approximately 100 yards from an elementary school. Carter was apprehended in San Antonio, Texas and is now in New Braunfels on $500,000 bond facing third-degree felony charges. If convicted he will face two to ten years in prison.
Our TakeNormally this wouldn't be the kind of story we run, but given the misconception that Carter's comments were made within a game and that League of Legends had anything to do with this, we felt compelled to dispel the inaccurate information. According to lieutenant Wells, the comments were left on the Facebook page of someone unknown to Carter. Especially following the recent school tragedies, authorities are taking these matters very seriously.
Anyone saying this is being to harsh are out of your minds. What he said is beyond twisted and it doesn't matter if he meant it or not. It needs dealt with seriously. This country is too damn lenient as it is, its good to see some actual punishment.
Seems like he is just an oblivious kid who stupidly made a joke about taking out a bunch of kindergartners. He shouldn't be put in jail, but someone should tell him it's definitely not okay to even make jokes about that sort of thing, especially now. It can be hard to tell a joke from a serious threat through text on the internet alone, and with the government looking at basically everything anyone says on the internet, it is no wonder he ended uo in this predicament.
Might be a bit overboard, but I like that they are at least taking these things seriously. I hope he doesn't go to prison and ruin his life for something he said as a stupid teen. Maybe just house arrest like some others said would be best, or probation, or anything else.
minority report much?
Wow... Yikessssss...
Hey Game Informer, you are supposed to capitalize Lieutenant...
Watch what you do, DOUBLE watch what you say. And I tell my students this ALL THE TIME. We live in a time when people do horrible things. Want to say things in private, go for it. But when you make it public, you open yourself up to this mess.
If someone goes as far as writing murder threats, i think some actions should be taken. Hes not yelling empty threats under the emotions brought in a sports game (virtual or not), hes writing them down so everyone can see them. Years in prison is taking it WAY too far, but murder isn't something you joke about. At least, where i'm from, we don't joke about that.
Giving him a big fine, a couple dozens of hours community work and put his name on a list of people to keep an eye on after a psychological examination.
While he shouldn't be sent to jail...he kinda brought it upon himself. I mean why do people think joking about extreme tragedies such as 'shooting up a school" is legitimately funny? It's one thing to be angry tell someone off, it's another to put out ( even jokingly) that you're not right in the head. Given that past threats that people put out were taken lightly and had serious repercussions, I'm not the least bit surprised that this was taken very seriously.
he was just having a bad day at LoL, saw too many Defeated screens.
those were threats.
it was more like, cursing.
I think he should be reprimended, but not with 10 years in prison!!! That's a little overkill