A teenager from Michigan accused of taking part in a January suicide is charged in Texas.
In this tale, suicide is discussed. Please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) if you or someone you know is contemplating suicide.
A teen from Michigan is facing charges for allegedly pushing a boy from Texas to end his life while they were chatting on a messaging app for games.
“The suicide took place in January in Montgomery County, Texas, north of Houston. The victim shot himself in the head and was found wearing a gaming headset, according to police,” Fox 2 Detroit reported.
According to the authorities, the boys were playing an online game with some kids and chatting over Discord.
Investigators discovered a chat log in which the victim admitted to considering suicide to the teen from Allen Park, Michigan, and encouraged the teen from Texas to carry out his plan, which he did.
According to Lt. Ken Washington, a public information officer with Montgomery County Precinct 3, “I think some of the ramifications that kids don’t understand are that, hey, there is someone actually on the other end of the phone or there is someone actually on the other end of the computer, and that words and things you say and do matter,” FOX 2 reported.
The Michigan boy and his family reportedly took a plane to Texas, where the boy entered a guilty plea to charges of misdemeanor harassment causing death and felony aiding suicide.
Experts who deal with teenagers advise parents to participate in their online lives.
“Talking to teens and young people is really important to help them understand the reality of the virtual world, virtual gaming, chat rooms, and all of that,” Dr. Jamie Freeny, who is the director of Mental Health America of Greater Houston’s Center for School Behavioral Health, told FOX 26 Houston.
A request for comment from Discord was not immediately answered. Discord was established in 2015, according to its website, and “is used by everyone from local hiking clubs to art communities to study groups.” The app features a special “safety center” with tools for parents and users.
Nintendo Cancels 2024 Video Game Showcase in Japan Amid Persistent Threats
After apologizing to the fans, the company said that more information about the event dates would be released later.
- Due to ongoing threats against the company, its employees, and its players, Nintendo has canceled its upcoming video game showcase and postponed a number of events.
- The decision to cancel Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo was made after the company admitted in an online statement that it was unable to guarantee the safety of its patrons.
- The popular game Splatoon’s Japan Championship and the Mario Kart and Splatoon competitions for next year have been postponed.
Nintendo has rescheduled multiple events and canceled its upcoming video game showcase due to ongoing threats against the company, its employees, and its players.
In an online statement released on Thursday, Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. stated, “We decided we could not adequately ensure the safety of our customers.”
Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo, which was scheduled for January 20 and 21, has been canceled by the Japanese company that brought us Super Mario and Pokemon. This yearly event in Tokyo’s massive exhibition hall features Nintendo games and allows attendees to try them out.
Nintendo also canceled a number of competitions, such as the Mario Kart and Splatoon competitions for the following year and the Japan championship for the well-liked ink-shooting game Splatoon, which was originally slated for later in December.
The business said that police had been contacted, but it would not provide specifics about the threats.
Nintendo has previously been the target of threats, but the public risk was deemed to be too great.
Nintendo stated that the new dates for the cancelled events will be revealed at a later time.
“We apologize sincerely to all those who have been looking forward to the events,” it continued.
In Japan, a relatively safe country with low crime rates, event cancellations due to threats are uncommon. However, reports of verbal and online abuse have recently surfaced, prompting worries that the issue might be more serious.
While the majority of parents reported instances of bullying at school, 19.2% said that bullying happened on social media platforms. An additional 11% of respondents said that bullying happened via text messages, and 7.9% mentioned video games as a source. In the meantime, 3.3% of respondents said they had experienced bullying via email, and 6.8% said it had happened on websites other than social media.
10.5% of parents said they had personally witnessed cyberbullying. Some parents even went so far as to witness the bullying in action.
It’s interesting to note that later studies have shown that victims of cyberbullying don’t even need to have internet access to be impacted. Guimetti et al. (2020) discovered a positive correlation between the amount of time spent using a cellphone offline and the risk of becoming a victim of cyberbullying.
