Xbox Live Used to Foil a Possible School Shooting

School shootings are a very delicate subject in North America, so it's no wonder that authorities respond to even the slightest hint of trouble. While playing an unmentioned game over Xbox Live on February 4 with five other teammates, a Port Alberni, British Columbia gamer was alarmed by the threats made by one of his online gaming colleagues. Being a failing student in his senior year, the latter began to talk about going on a shooting spree in his high school, greatly detailing his plans and naming several of his main targets.

The Canadian gamer tried to further question the aggressive Xbox Live user, but the would-be high school shooter disconnected from the title. Alarmed by the series of events, the former notified the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police office, which immediately started an investigation. With the help of the Microsoft Law Enforcement division, the suspected gamer was traced to a San Antonio console. There, the local authorities made an arrest, and the teen is apparently facing charges.

WOAI-TV further pursued the story, and reported that the aggressive gamer planned to obtain weapons from a friend in the Marine Corps, and even considered tactical details, like how much time he would have before the S.W.A.T. teams arrived. According to the police report, the reason for this planned attack was that he would "make the headlines so that people would remember him forever." In keeping with to the San Diego television station, the authorities contacted the school's principal before making the arrest, and talked to the teen who showed to be remorseful, and who, in the school official's opinion, was "no serious threat."

Even so, the student was suspended from school indefinitely, and will face a state felony charge. And while the suspension isn't really going to affect him that much, since he was failing anyway, the felony charge is only going to aggravate the problem of a teen that was probably just venting his frustration. His bad luck is that he chose a high-profile subject to do so, namely school shootings, and because of that he was shown no lenience.

The director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, Stephen Toulouse, issued a statement saying that, "I cannot comment on specific cases such as this except to say that the Xbox Enforcement team works very closely with Microsoft's law enforcement engagement teams to assist the police wherever possible. We urge customers that feel any behavior on Xbox LIVE could be threatening or criminal to contact law enforcement in addition to using our built in tools to help protect their experience."