On February 14, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida became the scene of the deadliest high school shooting in United States history. In total, 34 people were shot, with 17 students and staff members losing their lives. Since the Parkland shooting, the school district has made an effort to prevent future school shootings, and as it turns out, one may have very well been prevented thanks to a possible shooter being recorded while admitting his plans in a game of Fortnite.
A middle school student at Westglades Middle School, next door to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, threatened to bring a gun to school and shoot a 13 year old boy named Spencer. The potential shooter admitted his plans to a third student while they were playing a game of Fortnite together. The third student recorded the threat and uploaded it to YouTube and alerted Spencer. The video has been removed from all social media, but was obtained by online publication The Blast for verification.
Spencer's family reported the threat to authorities, who investigated the matter. The school and the Broward County Sheriff’s Department ultimately deemed it to be a low-level threat, which didn't sit well with Spencer's parents. The family's attorney, Bradford Cohen, has sent a letter to the school, criticizing it for not removing the potentially dangerous student from the district. "The only thing 'low level' here is the incompetence of a school with how to deal with students posting threats on social media in the aftermath of a horrible tragedy," he said in the letter.
Since the 2018 Parkland shooting, the incident has been consistently tied to video games. In this case, video games actually helped the student get proof of a school shooting threat and perhaps helped stop it before it could occur. However, video games have been blamed for the shooting in the past, with some arguing that violent games may have influenced the shooter.
After the 2018 Parkland shooting, President Trump met with gaming executives to discuss video game violence. This is similar to how then-vice president Joe Biden spoke with movie executives about gun violence back in 2013, and shows that media continues to be blamed for playing a role in mass shootings, regardless of which political party is in the White House.
Even some students also blamed violent games for playing a role in the Parkland shooting. Students at The Cushman School in Miami, Florida participated in the Violent Video Game Toss, where they turned in their violent games and signed a pledge to never play violent games again.
The debate about video game violence and the impact it has on people will continue. Studies conducted so far have been contradicting, with some coming to the conclusion that video games cause aggression, and others finding no link between video games and increased aggression. It's clear that more research is needed before a definitive conclusion can be reached.