Is Lawsuit Looming Over God of War Shooting?

"In Marble Falls, Texas last month, a 13-year-old boy shot a 15-year-old boy while they were playing the M-rated God of War.

TV station KXAN reported at the time:

Troy Guthrie, Jr. suffered severe injuries that have affected his sight, hearing and motor skills… According to an arrest report, the boy was shot with a .22-caliber pistol…

The mother of the 12-year-old witness said the boys were playing the video game “God of War” …The woman said after the shooting, the suspect asked her son to help take Guthrie’s body out back and put it in a barrel. The boy refused and instead called 911.

Troy is recovering from his wounds, but apparently has lost much of his eyesight. Although some gaming sites reported the news at the time, GamePolitics opted not to cover the story as the linkage to God of War seemed peripheral.

Last evening, however, we received one of Miami attorney Jack Thompson’s numerous e-mails. This one contained a supplement to a motion previously filed by Thompson with the Florida Supreme Court. Although it was mostly standard Thompson bluster, we noted the following passage:

While sitting at his desk today, the undersigned received a phone call from a lawyer in another state. Because of confidentiality requirements, Thompson will not share the state or other specifics about the call save to note that this lawyer wants Thompson’s help, as a lawyer, because a thirteen-year-old boy, while playing a violent video game, shot his client, a fifteen-year-old, in the head, permanently blinding him.

There is no question that but for the play of the game, this would not have happened. This lawyer said, “You’re the one lawyer in America who can help this family.”

The Texas case immediately sprang to mind, since the circumstances as described by Thompson fit perfectly. GP asked Thompson via e-mail whether he was referring to the Troy Guthrie shooting and whether he would be getting involved. Thompson’s terse reply was “nope [to both questions].”

However, if Thompson’s original claim to the Florida Supreme Court was accurate, we’d say that, given the circumstances, this has to be the God of War case, which would mean that an attorney in Texas is considering the idea of a personal injury lawsuit that would likely involve SCEA and, perhaps, a game retailer.

This is speculative, of course, but the circumstantial indications are, we believe, strong enough to report."

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