CS fan kills 16

[CSN NewsBot]

On a much sadder note, yesterday a school shooting occurred in Germany. A 19-year-old reported Counter-Strike fan murdered 16 people before shooting himself; he killed 13 teachers, 2 students, and a police officer. He was recently expelled from the school. This story, concerning a teacher's heroism, mentions his reported liking of Counter-Strike:

The killing has prompted Germany to question the wisdom of its gun laws under which 10 million weapons are legally held.



It has also led to calls for tighter rules on violent computer games.



In a sign that the bloodbath may feature in the campaign for national elections this year, Edmund Stoiber, conservative challenger to Schroeder, said violent games should be banned.



According to Der Spiegel news magazine, Steinhauser spent much of his time playing violent computer video games. His favourite was called "Counterstrike" in which anti-terror units wearing masks battle each other to death.



Steinhaeuser also wore a black mask and dark clothes to carry out his attack.

Certainly these murders were not carried out in the name of CS and I don't think anyone is implying this besides said conservative candidate.



To be fair to CNN (in reference to the last sentence in the quote), no one really knows if this psycho did or did not try to emulate CS with his attack. We can all certainly conclude, however, his reasons were his expulsion, mental problems, and his lack of understanding how valuable human life really is.



Reuters is also reporting this information by way of Der Spiegel.

[Exo]

It's sad when something horrible in real life happens that relates to counter-strike. Similar instances have happened before.

[rizzuh]

Edited by [user="2065"] @ [time="1019951658"]

The fatal stabbing in Asia and the stabbing on Orange Country, California are such instances.



Clearly CS itself cannot be held responsible, just as movies and TV cannot, but the fact that these were some of the people in our community is sad. It taints the entire game in the eyes of many.



I would certainly understand if CS is blacklisted in Germany, making sale and advertising only legal to adults. In fact, that is almost certain to happen, if not an outright ban of the game.



It is indeed somber when online innocence is cast in to a real life event.

[alex`]

well, seems as cs will get free advertising., ., i don't really have a clear opinion on this matter, but cs was definitely not the cause of the shooting

[.nap]

I can't get myself to believe a computer game can influence a violent act like this one. I try very hard, yet, I don't see it. How someone could take human lives based on an online game. Mental retardation could be the cause, cs?, not in my opinion.

Added @ [time="1019951827"]

I wonder how the outrageous german cs community will react to this.

[KaMiKaZe46]

see what CS 1.4 does to kids?

[Sneaky]

You forgot to mention the kid was also a trained marksman. He had prior training that would account for the headshot kills.



They claim most of the kills were at close range. But if they were moving targets that would be more difficult. Still with time and experience on the firing range this would be no problem for a trained shooter.



This just goes to show how much damage 1 kid is capable of doing. Germany has over 10 million gun owners. Maybe some stricter gun laws would help the problem.



You certainly can't blame CS for this. But I wouldn't rule out that he was thinking about the game while carrying out the assault...

[RockSteady]

Although I don't blaim counter strike for this. I think that there are some people who have some sort of mental disorder and thrive on the killing that takes place in the game.



I seriously hope that gooseman and others don't start feeling responsible for this. If it means anything, I want to say to them that people will try to blame the game that you created, but it wasn't the game's and/or your fault.



I'm guessing that this kid had some serious emotional problems that were most likely intensified by his suroundings.

[Carlsbro]

I think people always look for an easy scapegoat when something terrible like this happens. That Columbine thing got completely blamed on Marilyn Manson for example, and now this. They present easy targets, and ones which are more often looked into rather than small things like hmm parental responsibility and mental stability. The US government decided not to bring in stricter gun laws for youths after the Columbine thing, they decided the best solution was to make schools put the 10 commandments up in classrooms. And we wonder why things like this happen. To blame CS is ridiculous.

[RockSteady]

KaMiKaZe46 wrote..

see what CS 1.4 does to kids?

bad joke. bad in the sense of not appropriate.

Added @ [time="1019952256"]

The US government decided not to bring in stricter gun laws for youths after the Columbine thing, they decided the best solution was to make schools put the 10 commandments up in classrooms. And we wonder why things like this happen.

Funny, I don't ever remember the government requiring that the 10 commandments up in any school. Can I please have some documentation of this, because I'm truly interested.

[rizzuh]

Edited by [user="2065"] @ [time="1019952475"]

Sneaky wrote..

You forgot to mention the kid was also a trained marksman. He had prior training that would account for the headshot kills.



...



This just goes to show how much damage 1 kid is capable of doing. Germany has over 10 million gun owners. Maybe some stricter gun laws would help the problem.



You certainly can't blame CS for this. But I wouldn't rule out that he was thinking about the game while carrying out the assault...

I wasn't trying to imply that he was a good shooter because of CS, sorry if you picked that up. Germany has very strict gun laws, it takes about a year to get a fire arm. They plan in making it more difficult as a result, however.



I agree with your last two sentences. No one knows, but it may be more likely than not.

RockSteady wrote..

Funny, I don't ever remember the government requiring that the 10 commandments up in any school. Can I please have some documentation of this, because I'm truly interested.

Don't worry, he just made it up.

[KoolKidd]

It's sad that a kid would incorporate CS into his life this way. That is if CS was the cause for this idiodacy. If it was, then the kid is either retarded or just plain stupid.

[FLeK0]

I got booted from school too, the reason was CS... :/

But i dont want to kill anyone in real life. I like this (except some exams in june), I'm free :)

[Carlsbro]

no i didnt make it up actually, i'll go and look for it now.

[Unregistered]

rizzuh i read that he killed 17 then himself...u wrote that he killed 16...which is correct??

also in your news post you said "no one really knows if this psycho did or did not try to emulate CS with his attack."...isnt the use of "psycho" a little disrespectful?