School massacre: Families sue entertainment companies
The families of several victims of America’s worst school shooting are suing companies that create violent video games and sex-oriented websites.
The families claim the products influenced the teenage gunmen who killed 13 people at Columbine High School.
The lawsuit seeks $5bn (£3.3bn) in punitive damages from 25 entertainment companies.
It was filed on behalf of the family of teacher Dave Sanders and other Columbine victims in federal court.
Companies named in the lawsuit include Nintendo of America, Sega of America, Sony Computer Entertainment and Time Warner Inc, which is now AOL Time Warner, and ID Software Inc and GT Interactive Software Corp, creators and publishers of the game, Doom.
During the investigation into the shooting at the Colorado school on April 20 1999, police found a videotape that shows one of the killers with a sawn-off shotgun on his lap he calls ‘‘Arlene’’ after a character in the Doom video game.
‘‘Absent the combination of extremely violent video games and these boys’ incredibly deep involvement, use of and addiction to these games and the boys’ basic personalities, these murders and this massacre would not have occurred,’’ said the lawsuit.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot dead Sanders and 12 students and wounded 23 others before killing themselves.
A nearly identical lawsuit filed after Michael Carneal killed three Heath High School students in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1997, was dismissed last April.
A federal judge there said video games were not subject to product liability laws.
Doom is a target-shooting game. Other violent video games mentioned in the lawsuit include Quake and Redneck Rampage.
The lawsuit also claims Klebold and Harris looked at sexually violent material on at least two Internet sites.
