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Authorities: LA freeway shooting suspect a "loner" and "gamer"
CBS News ^ | February 21, 2013 | CBS

Posted on 02/22/2013 5:05:01 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo

TUSTIN, California The shooter who went on a violent rampage in California earlier this week has been described by authorities as a "loner" and a "gamer," CBS LA reports. The Orange Country sheriff's department has been investigating 20-year-old suspect Ali Syed since he allegedly shot five people, three fatally, before turning the gun on himself.

Violent video games and mass violence: A complex link "He spent a lot of time alone in his room playing video games," said Orange County Sheriff's department spokesman Jim Amormino.

There is still no known motive in the case and law enforcement officials are now trying to determine whether Syed, an unemployed part-time college student, was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The first victim in Tuesday's shooting spree was identified as 20-year-old Courtney Aoki. She was shot multiple times around 4:30 a.m. in Syed's home. The relationship between Aoki and Syed is still unknown.

After allegedly killing Aoki, Syed fled the home he shared with his parents in an SUV.

His mother, Sarwat Syed, called 911 after hearing shots downstairs from her third floor bedroom.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department released a recording of that phone call in which a frantic Sarwat told the dispatcher that someone was in the house.

CBS News/ February 21, 2013, 3:56 PM Authorities: LA freeway shooting suspect a "loner" and "gamer" 1Comment / 3Shares / 2Tweets / Stumble / Email More + .. This undated image provided by the Tustin Police Department shows Ali Syed, a suspect in a series of shootings Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 in southern California. / AP Photo/Tustin Police Dept. TUSTIN, California The shooter who went on a violent rampage in California earlier this week has been described by authorities as a "loner" and a "gamer," CBS LA reports. The Orange Country sheriff's department has been investigating 20-year-old suspect Ali Syed since he allegedly shot five people, three fatally, before turning the gun on himself.

Violent video games and mass violence: A complex link "He spent a lot of time alone in his room playing video games," said Orange County Sheriff's department spokesman Jim Amormino.

There is still no known motive in the case and law enforcement officials are now trying to determine whether Syed, an unemployed part-time college student, was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The first victim in Tuesday's shooting spree was identified as 20-year-old Courtney Aoki. She was shot multiple times around 4:30 a.m. in Syed's home. The relationship between Aoki and Syed is still unknown.

After allegedly killing Aoki, Syed fled the home he shared with his parents in an SUV.

His mother, Sarwat Syed, called 911 after hearing shots downstairs from her third floor bedroom.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department released a recording of that phone call in which a frantic Sarwat told the dispatcher that someone was in the house.

Los Angeles Freeway Shooting Update: New details emerge about rampage Los Angeles freeway shooter identified as 20-year-old student Ali Syed

Syed reportedly carjacked a number of vehicles across the cities of Orange, Tustin and Villa Park after he left his parents' home.

Authorities said he shot and killed two people and injured at least three more before turning the gun on himself. Sheriff's department spokesman Jim Amormino said an autopsy confirmed Syed died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The gun belonged to Syed and was purchased by his father a year ago.

Syed's family is heartbroken by the situation, according to family attorney Vincent John LaBarbera Jr.

"Their thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all the victims," he said. "They will continue to assist authorities in the investigation as they themselves try to make sense of this tragedy. The Syed family has much to overcome in the months ahead and we ask that you respect their privacy at this time of tremendous sorrow."

Earlier this week, another grisly crime was linked to gaming when authorities told CBS News correspondent Bob Orr they believe Adam Lanza may have been acting out fantasies from a video shooting game when he killed 26 people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School last December.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: California
KEYWORDS: syed; videogames
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Yet another video game associated massacre. Ban violent video games. There's no mention of video games in the Bill of Rights.
1 posted on 02/22/2013 5:05:17 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

We’ve had the Second Amendment for two centuries without an epidemic of murderous rampages until the recent dominance of a sick godless popular culture.


2 posted on 02/22/2013 5:10:16 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Well it certainly wasn’t violent movies. That just wouldn’t make the movie lobby very happy.


3 posted on 02/22/2013 5:11:44 AM PST by vmivol00 (I won't be reconstructed.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Notice how they never mentioned that he’s a Muslim. It’s obviously politically correct to stigmatize loners and gamers, but not Muslims.


4 posted on 02/22/2013 5:23:57 AM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Zhang Fei
Notice how they never mentioned that he’s a Muslim. It’s obviously politically correct to stigmatize loners and gamers, but not Muslims.

It may be that in this case that his religion or lack of same had no effect in this rampage, but that's never stopped from the left to label any killer with the most remote connection to Christianity as a "Christian terrorist".

5 posted on 02/22/2013 5:34:04 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Congratulations, Colonel, on your promotion.


6 posted on 02/22/2013 5:39:27 AM PST by kitkat (STORM THE HEAVENS WITH PRAYERS FOR OUR COUNTRY)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Bite your tongue. I’ve been gaming since I was 6 years old, and started online when I was 13. I won’t say I’m exactly fine up there due to personal circumstances, but gaming doesn’t make me want to go out and kill people. That, plus being into music has always kept me away from doing idle things, like drinking often and heavily, or ever being tempted to do drugs. Yeah, kids do need to go out and get exercise, but keep in mind how neighborhoods are becoming in America. If I was a teenager now, I’d rather spend my time playing games over going out, because odds are I’d find myself being arrested for nothing.

See my tagline. The vast majority of gamers haven’t harmed anyone lately.


7 posted on 02/22/2013 5:44:28 AM PST by wastedyears (I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo; Zhang Fei

Related article posted yesterday here at FR:

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/media-covers-up-muslim-mass-shooter-in-california/


8 posted on 02/22/2013 5:44:28 AM PST by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Earlier this week . . . Adam Lanza . . .
That is a stretch in the story line. Yeah, don’t forget white boys do this.

Here is the reward to Syed - 72 vigins coming right up. End of Syed.


9 posted on 02/22/2013 5:45:09 AM PST by healy61
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
More likely it is that some psychotics are attracted to violent video games and so long as they stay with their games they don't go killing real people. Sometimes they reach a point where the games are not enough. I used to think that the games caused the problem but I have got to know a couple of crazy gamers that i strongly suspect will act out in the real world eventually. I don't know that they will go shooting folks but they will become obnoxious to a wider population. One fellow, in particular- I know him a lot better than the other- is fairly placid and easy to deal with in his periods between sessions but becomes quite irritable when his computer is down for longer than a day. His sister, with whom he resides gets the box fixed as quickly as she can.

The contribution that gaming does seem to make to the problem seems to be in conditioning the gamer to be a dead shot with a pistol with a first shot, though with real guns actual recoil will likely throw him off for subsequent shots.

10 posted on 02/22/2013 5:48:43 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
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To: Zhang Fei

Muslim. What better motive is there?


11 posted on 02/22/2013 5:51:04 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Forget the videogames. I want to know what websites he visits. They’d be quick to blame FR if it was one of them!


12 posted on 02/22/2013 5:52:34 AM PST by Tanniker Smith (Rome didn't fall in a day, either.)
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To: wastedyears

I know very, very few people go nuts who play video games. I’ve got a brother who plays “Call of Duty”.


13 posted on 02/22/2013 5:54:05 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Tanniker Smith

And it’s obvious that he didn’t have a Rush Limbaugh book or we’d have never heard the end of it already.


14 posted on 02/22/2013 5:56:44 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Venturer

A Muslim who only killed non-Muzzies and only shot at non-Muzzies. Why won’t these POS shoot up their own kind?


15 posted on 02/22/2013 6:00:13 AM PST by dennisw (too much of a good thing is a bad thing --- Joe Pine)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

They need check to see if he played, “Grand Theft Auto” recently He may have transcended the game to real life and thought he would get enough bonus points to paint his dream car if he offed himself after one of his mission.../s


16 posted on 02/22/2013 6:01:52 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
Dang good observation. Never occurred to me to look at it that way.
17 posted on 02/22/2013 6:03:33 AM PST by VaRepublican (I would propagate taglines but I don't know how. But bloggers do.)
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To: dennisw

Actually, based on his name, there’s a good chance he was Hindu, not Muslim.


18 posted on 02/22/2013 6:06:30 AM PST by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

I’m sorry to hear he plays the most casual shooter out there. I played SOCOM back in its heyday, from 2003 through 2007.


19 posted on 02/22/2013 6:08:49 AM PST by wastedyears (I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

What else might we surmise about Ali?


20 posted on 02/22/2013 6:20:30 AM PST by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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