Grand Theft Auto IV-Imitating Teens Arrested

Pictured, from left to right: Samuel Philip; Dylaid Laird; Jaspreet Singh; Stephen Attard (Brandon Cruz's and Gurmoor Singh's mug shots were not released due to their age)

Six teenagers, ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old, were arrested yesterday for mugging, attacking, attempting to carjack, and overall menacing in Nassau County. And the police say they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV.

Newsday reports that police have found three victims--a supermarket employee who was severely beaten (his teeth were knocked out), a woman they tried to carjack, and a man whose car was bashed in--and believe there may be more. They also broke into garages to steal bats and crowbars. Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Raymond Cote said, "They decided they were going to go out to commit robberies and emulate the [lead] character Nico Belic in the particularly violent video game 'Grand Theft Auto.' These teens have difficulty separating fact from fiction, fantasy from reality... It was quite alarming."

Initially, there were four teens who attacked and robbed the supermarket employee. They were going to attack a group of teens, but then realized they were school classmates so they invited them to join in. The suspects are: Dylan Laird, 17; Stephen Attard, 18; Samuel Philip, 16; Brandon Cruz, 15; Gurnoor Singh, 14; and Jaspreet Singh, 17. Jaspreet signed was charged with possession of stolen property while the others were charged with first-degree robbery.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on June 27, 2008 2:52 PM

Comments [rss]

linguinelover

I don't get why all of you are making these kids out to be guilty without knowing the truth. Can you for a minute imagine that this will sell 100,000 copies more of this game, or think that a group of cops & press need something to liven up their summer????? i know for a fact that the video game was not on any of their minds. it was not even discussed until the police and the press brought it up. this sucks. i know one kid who was not involved AT ALL - and was going to be robbed by the first group - DYLAN is his name. He just was standing next to the BMW at the time it was stopped by the others. Why are you DRAGGING him through the mud. who knows i'm not even sure you all can relate but this is a travesty and another case of the press whipping everyone into a frenzy. just plain sucks.

Think2wice

(From left to right)

Scrawny-Malayali Spice, Pasty-Virgin Spice, Overgrown-Punjabi Spice, & Wannabe-Anarchist Spice.

(Not shown)

Token-Latino Spice and Overgrown-Punjabi Spice Jr.

Thank God my parents never bought into the suburbs like all the other Indian lemmings.

Jerky

Wow, you know Long Island really sucks when even the Indian kids are joining up with the local white trash.

Spirit of 76

Its not an excuse- its REALITY. Kids are TAUGHT to be violent- its not an innate desire to kill rob and rape.

True enough when taken in context of "America's Army," the videogame the Army created first to recruit kids then later tweaked for training of real soldiers. Killing doesn't come naturally to most people. They have to be inured to it. The thinking is if you shoot enough virtual enemies, you won't get sick when you kill the real thing.

sonyactivision

Dumb brats jumped the gun. "GTA XXXVII: Nassau County" won't be out for another 67 years and there won't be any cars, just stabbers on bicycles.

jterry121

"when will people realize that "the videogame made me do it!" is an excuse, not an explanation, and not even a credible excuse."

Its not an excuse- its REALITY. Kids are TAUGHT to be violent- its not an innate desire to kill rob and rape. Video game makers should be PROSECUTED just as badly as People who commit these crimes

The makers of GTA- Dave Jones, Dan Houser, & Sam House deserve as much prison time as these Kids do

babyhitler

AHHH Yeah! Whiteboy crime. You know you've been waiting for this. I certainly have.

talos

when will people realize that "the videogame made me do it!" is an excuse, not an explanation, and not even a credible excuse.

long island suburbs are boring places. perhaps if people didn't insist on living in the middle of nowhere with three cars and nothing to do, their kids wouldn't leave the GTA-equipped den only to harass other people.

jterry121

GTA is for Virgins who act violent because they've never been laid.

To all you video game queers in denial posting comments - If you play video games all where youre force to kill rape and rob innocent people, you really think thats going to make you want to hug bunny rabbits & save the whales?

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

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VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME BREED VIOLENT CHILDREN

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Spear_Chucker

Bunch of dumbasses. Great job, parents.

Rocknrope

Silly Jaspreet, you know there are no Indians in videogames that commit crimes. You should be a good boy and be studying for the Scripp's Bee.

robingee

That's a real braintrust up there.

Way to give anti-video game mouthpieces something to yak about. Good going.

citizenerased

I'm guessing Stephen Attard, 18, sparked the rampage after being called Stephen Retard by bullies at school. It writes itself.

fortyver

WorksinDUMBO; That was a genius comment.

takethecanoli

That one 18 y.o. is hating life.

Toby von Meistersinger

They are from the Island - enough said!

Toby von Meistersinger

They are from the Island - enough said!

WorksInDUMBO

reminds me of that time I was playing Mario Brothers and decided to throw a barrel at a gorilla.

Tgirl

they don't exactly look like geniuses

AlliOops

The mugshots actually look like avatars

TimSPC

Long Island, ladies and gentlemen! Let's have a nice round of applause!

WesleySnipesAlot

Well it couldn't possibly be the parents fault their kids are going around menacing people... surely they taught their kids right from wrong, fiction from reality... it must be the video game!

meL

Love how everyone uses the "inspired by a video game" as a reason to do imbecilic things.

Luckily they didn't play Team Fortress 2, otherwise they'd be running around stealing intel whilst wielding flamethrowers and scatterguns.

Geez.

plk779

Why do idiots keep having to blame videogames when they do stupid shit?! Leave the games alone so the rest of us who play games and DON'T do dumbass shit don't have to deal with alarmists that are convinced they're the devil's work!