On the night of Thursday, January 11 in Ceres, California, 28 year old Matthew Nicholson became upset while playing a video game and shot his 68 year old mother Lydia Nicholson in the head.
According to reports, Matthew "threw a fit" while playing a video game, and began to yell. His mother Lydia went to talk to him, but the two ended up in an argument that resulted in Matthew's headset being broken. Matthew blamed his mother for the broken headset, and threatened to kill both her and his father, Loren Nicholson.
Matthew retrieved the gun that was kept in the house and began firing at his parents. Police have determined that Matthew fired the gun three to four times, with two bullets going into a wall, and a third possibly piercing the ceiling. One bullet hit Lydia in the head. Matthew then tried to kill his father, but his weapon jammed. Matthew's father Loren was then able to retrieve the gun and empty it as Matthew fled the scene.
Loren held his wife of 32 years in his arms as they wanted for police and paramedics to arrive. Lydia was transported to a nearby hospital, but she would die of her injuries.
Matthew drove to an unspecified location near a relative's house in Riverbank, California. He was apprehended by police and charged with homicide.
Further details on this tragic story are unavailable at this time. It's unclear what video game Matthew was playing when he became enraged, and it's also unknown if Matthew was struggling with any diagnosed mental illnesses. However, some will say a situation like this does give more legitimacy to the claim that excessive gaming is a mental health disorder, or can perhaps exacerbate existing mental health conditions.
Unfortunately, this incident is just the latest where video games played a role in someone's death. Earlier this month, a Call of Duty swatting incident saw 28 year old father of two Andrew Finch shot and killed by a SWAT team who thought they were responding to an ongoing hostage situation.
While these latest examples are people purposefully causing harm to others, there are times when video games play a role in accidental deaths as well. For example, one man in Taiwan literally played games until he died, and in Japan, a woman was hit and killed by a car because the driver was busy playing Pokemon GO.
Source: The Washington Post