Online gaming threat shuts down schools
Posted by Jeff Quinton on December 12, 2007Channel 2 in Baltimore had a news story about an online threat causing a lockdown of public schools and Frostburg State University this morning. Their initial story didn’t have many details, so I went to the Frostburg page which had this announcement that said the threat was made on an online multi-player game and was deemed not credible. It was reported that someone heard the threat in a game online and notified the city police in Frostburg and things escalated from there.
Channel 2’s latest story indicates that someone in Oregon allegedly overheard a Frostburg student make a threat about shooting up the campus while playing Call of Duty 4 with voice chat being used for gameplay. Allieu Shaw, a 19 year old student from Gaithersburg, was charged with disrupting school and faces up to two years and a $10,000 fine if convicted. He has been suspended from school pending further action. Shaw, who apparently goes by the nickname B.J., has a myspace profile that appears to be here.
Post title updated since I’ve been informed Call of Duty 4 is not a MMORPG - sorry for any confusion.
Comment by Andrew Fenn
I am guessing that what happened is this guy was winning the game too much and his friends that were angry about losing phoned up the police.
If you can’t win honestly in a game, cheat.
Comment by 1389
College and university officials so often focus on illusory threats, to give the illusion that they are “doing something.” Meanwhile, they pointedly ignore genuine concerns - such as the spread of radical Islam on campuses - that are not “politically correct” to mention even in private.