FSU student receives misdemeanor charges after making threats on Xbox Live
Allieu Shaw, a student of Frostburg State University in western Maryland, has been charged with two counts of disrupting a school operation after threatening to shoot up his school during (what we can only assume was) a very heated match of Call of Duty 4 over Xbox Live. After making the threats, complete with detailed instructions as to how he was going to carry out the attack, one of his teammates contacted the Frostburg police department, who prompted an immediate lock-down of all schools in the Frostburg area. If convicted, Shaw could face a one year jail sentence or a $5,000 fine.One neat thing about this otherwise alarming story: The student who contacted the Frostburg police does not attend FSU -- in fact, he lives in Oregon, nearly 2,500 miles away from the school. It's refreshing to know there are complete strangers out there who are capable of putting down the controller for a few minutes to make a responsible, cautionary phone call -- regardless of the sincerity of Shaw's threats.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Obie @ Dec 16th 2007 1:05PM
If I called the FBI everytime after hearing the sludge in COD4/Halo 3 games, I could a be a full-time agent by now.
But it is good to see that no one is truly anonymous on XBL.
pantera6 @ Dec 16th 2007 1:21PM
im glad that happened, there are some real sick people on live who seriously make me doubt whats happened to the world, at the same time though it makes me feel good about myself.
i have 3 things to say to those people a) need to get a life, seriously as in manage to manage how they spend their time (plotting to kill cooler kids than you is not a good past time)
b)get laid once every so often so they dont have to have gay virtual bum sex with dead bodies to get their sexual pleasure for that year.
c)mayby if they spent more time working in the real world they could achieve real achievements like having a job a wife a diploma in something?
i hope he gets sent to jail, i cant wait to here his story one year later about what rape actually feels like
A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Dec 17th 2007 7:29AM
Oh, sure, not like people trash talk on the internet all the time. And on Live, too. You would, literally, have to be a moron to take a threat seriously during a game on live. I mean, really, it seems far more likely this guy only got reported because the reporter wanted to knock him down a peg for being rude online; the most heinus of crimes. This is what the internet is for, slandering others anonymously. A retarded reaction isn't going to stop it, and it's certainly not the kind of reaction i'd like to see
gonk @ Dec 16th 2007 1:22PM
pwn
zuburi @ Dec 16th 2007 2:07PM
banhammer IRL!
MDB @ Dec 16th 2007 1:23PM
I'm sure his threats were sincere. I know if I were planning a school massacre, the first thing I'd do is tell everyone on Xbox Live about it. Maybe I'd improvise the lyrics to some songs in Rock Band to lay out my evil plan.
Spooner @ Dec 16th 2007 1:23PM
Absolutely ridiculous. The Thought Police is alive and well.
cwolf267 @ Dec 16th 2007 1:30PM
Exactly, I dont know why so many people whole heartedly agree with what happened in this story.
I once got in trouble in my middle school for talking about paintball AFTERSCHOOL and OFF CAMPUS. A student who I didn't get along with, and was a well known attention whore, said I was making threats about bringing a gun to school. Instead of checking to make sure what was really said, they took her word as fact, and terminated my transfer.
This kid really does seem like a dumb ass, but I would like to know if these two got into an argument online, and the other player reported him because he wanted to be funny/win the argument/screw with the other kid
LaughingTarget @ Dec 16th 2007 1:45PM
Thought police isn't a very good argument. The concept of the thought police is taking a small detail and creating a huge conspiracy out of it, assuming they know what you're thinking. Making detailed threats on how someone is going to commit a crime isn't remotely close to that. Planning a crime is a criminal offense in and of itself.
Bluebrake @ Dec 16th 2007 1:50PM
You don't see a problem with making an explicit, detailed threat to kill a large group of people? This isn't thought policing. The kid deserves everything he gets.
Also note that he isn't even being charged with making the threat, since the police have sensibly determined that it wasn't serious (as it wasn't his school). He's being charged with disrupting the schools' operation, because his threat caused them all to go into lockdown.
This is a textbook case of justice served, or it will be if he's convicted.
ill trooper @ Dec 16th 2007 2:43PM
The guy might have been joking but clearly others took it seriously. This is setting the tone to let people know that this sort of threat is unacceptable.
I support it.
No reason to have some internet tough guy spout off a bunch of crap to you and make you stressed out as you turn off your xbox, wondering if 'XxX_HEDSNOT_XxX' was serious or joking, and if he knows where you live... This sort of thing can help people hold their tongue a little bit, as they realize it can be taken seriously, like bomb jokes at the airport.
Pulling out the classic for this one (no, it's NOT Rick Astley):
http://tinyurl.com/ykplwl
shivr @ Dec 16th 2007 3:27PM
@ bluebreak:
It was his school, the guy who made the threats and shared the plans was a student at FSU, it wasn't the guy who reported him's school though, the guy that reported him probably didn't even know him as he was described as "a teammate".
Bluebrake @ Dec 16th 2007 3:35PM
My mistake. In that case, I'm actually surprised he's not being charged with something more serious.
shivr @ Dec 16th 2007 6:25PM
well based on the quality and amount of the evidence, maybe that's all they could charge him with for a sure "conviction"... Or perhaps there are mitigating circumstances... who knows. My guess is that a serach of his living space and interviews with people he knows make it seem more like a joke than a real threat. If they found real evidence of him preparing to commit this crime, I'd imagine he'd be getting way more pounded by the law..
Spooner @ Dec 16th 2007 7:47PM
What ever happened to good old police work and a little bit of investigation before declaring a complete lock-down of a school? Seems way too knee jerk of a reaction to me. There was no clear evidence this kid was going to do anything. They searched his living quarters: no weapons, no planning material. This is a classic case of over-reaction by Big Brother who knows what is best for us.
None of us knows what this kid said to make the presumption he made "a well detailed, well-thought out, threat against his school to random strangers." Until we're told further by news outlets, it looks like LEO took the words of one gamer 2400 miles away and immediately acted without further investigation.
Anyway... looks like most of you disagree with me here and would rather see a pro-active police force. Just remember that they usually start trampling on your rights in their attempts to be pro-active.
t_m @ Dec 17th 2007 12:39AM
School lockdowns seem to be way overused in the US. But this situation seems to be exactly what they were created for.
There is a difference between someone LYING and saying cwolf267 was gonna shoot up the school, when he didn't say that, and someone actually saying, in detail, that they planned to do it.
I don't support school lockdowns just because someone gives an offhand remark about hating their teacher, or even wishing they were dead. But if someone says, in a wy that isn't CLEARLY a joke, that they are gonna do something serious then I'm very happy people still even care enough to worry about it and do something about it.
The correct thing to happen is for the police to investigate, and then, if it turns out it was just a joke, let him go.
People seem to feel that police should only take action when their is proof someone is guilty. Personally I think police have just as much responsibility to prove people innocent as guilty.
Check up on it. If its serious, do something. If it isn't don't. Thats common sense.
(but it doesn't mean i support people panicking and reporting people for every little imagined deviation from the norm.)
Srayer @ Dec 17th 2007 4:41PM
On the topic of how school lockdowns can be silly, I have a small anecdote to share.
I live in California, and in this area we recently had a fairly powerful earthquake. When it started, I dove under the nearest table. This is what I was taught in school when I was young.
I later spoke to my high school aged niece, and she said that she didn't know what to do when the earthquake started. It turns out that at her school, they didn't do earthquake drills. However, they regularly ran drills for school lockdowns.
Statistical chance of experiencing a shooting rampage at school in California: nearly 0%.
Statistical change of experiencing an earthquake during your life in California: nearly 100%.
Tim B. @ Dec 16th 2007 1:43PM
ha, thats were my dad went to college
ScYze @ Dec 16th 2007 1:45PM
@MDB
i can see how people take it seriously after the Jokela school shooting where some antihuman humanist posted a video on youtube on how hes going to execute a school shooting and does it in RL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokela_school_shooting
INCH75 Vocals @ Dec 17th 2007 3:25AM
FYI: Although he called himself an "anti-human humanist", he clearly wasn't a humanist. That was one of the oxymoronic terms he coined to describe himself, however you could not describe him as one, as the term is contradictory. All of the titles he gave himself were oxymoronic in nature.
LaughingTarget @ Dec 16th 2007 1:46PM
The kid's revenge on being turned in to the authorities? Voting him down for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Speddy @ Dec 16th 2007 2:00PM
I was playing CoD4 when my 360 got the RRoD. Bet he wishes his did too...now he's p0w3nd!
Seriously, if everytime someone cussed out someone of LIVE a cop showed up, there would be no one for Xbox LIVE to make money off of...
SJ @ Dec 16th 2007 2:02PM
This is a controversial issue no doubt. To many it will be "the thought police has arrived!", etc. But at the same time what if the guy was serious and did shoot up the school? Some guy posted videos on youtube and actually did shoot up a school recently, and that did happen.
You just don't make such threats. At all.
waynski1457 @ Dec 16th 2007 2:14PM
there is no way i could have said it better. +1
Mighty Healthy @ Dec 16th 2007 2:18PM
Very true...even joking about making such threats is bad etiquette. However, I'm very concerned about the civil liberties being violated here.
Considering other posts made, it's very obvious that even harsher conversations occur on XBL every minute. How much longer before jealous gamers fabricate threats?
I am still in awe as to how the police were able to get all of this guy's information so quickly. I wonder how they verified the complaint, how Microsoft provided the contact info, and how the arrest was carried out.
While I'm glad that there was an overreaction rather than no reaction...it's hardly refreshing to know that people who've never met you, can put you in jail.
Bluebrake @ Dec 16th 2007 3:46PM
What civil liberties? Nowhere in your constitution is the right to make death threats protected.
Ironhead @ Dec 16th 2007 2:11PM
Spooner, what in the hell does this have to do with thought police? He made a well detailed, well-thought out, threat against his school to random strangers. When you are telling your thoughts to someone else, they are no longer private, and the person you tell those thoughts to has the full right to do what they will with what you tell them.
gonk @ Dec 16th 2007 2:32PM
fuck you
ill trooper @ Dec 16th 2007 2:47PM
You won't even hear the knock...
AirIntake @ Dec 16th 2007 2:48PM
OMG! I better call teh police!
Afterlifer82 @ Dec 16th 2007 3:15PM
This kid is a hero, get him some free games MS!
James @ Dec 16th 2007 3:19PM
I hope he's put in gaol for this. Absolute idiot.
pmagod @ Dec 16th 2007 3:27PM
For a second I thought yiu meant FSU as in Florida State, where I go... Stupid acronyms
B1gC72 @ Dec 16th 2007 7:45PM
yea thats what i thought at first. i go to Salisbury University which is an in-state rival of Frostburg State University. didnt realize this hit so close to home (well if you call a three hour trip to the mountains close).
it is nice to see that there are some decent people scattered among the assholes on this internet though.
wargoo @ Dec 16th 2007 4:00PM
sounds like he got pretty detailed on how he was going to conduct the shooting. i say good for the kid for calling the authorities.
getting mad at someone and yelling at them is one thing (not illegal). going into detail on how he is going to come into the school and shoot people down is another (illegal).
Obie @ Dec 16th 2007 4:04PM
I don't think shooting him in the head will do the trick, not much up there ya know. ;)
rockintom @ Dec 16th 2007 5:59PM
Why are people claiming thought police? If he were to keep these thoughts to himself, he wouldn't have been arrested. Simple.
This is *word* police, which is a much different, and justified thing. You just cant run around threatening peoples' lives.
dr__synth @ Dec 16th 2007 6:05PM
Achievement Unlocked: School shootout plan!
playwhutyalike (fried my washer) @ Dec 16th 2007 6:56PM
What a fuckin loser.
MisterSquared @ Dec 16th 2007 7:32PM
Oregonians stopping crime FTW!
Batzarro @ Dec 16th 2007 10:12PM
If your dumb enought to make a fake threath in XBL, you deserve to be locked down. That said, this calls for that song...
TRUE
TRUE-CRIME
TRUE...CRIME
TRUE-CRIME
TRUE: CRIME!
randomshagz @ Dec 16th 2007 11:33PM
Achievement Unlocked: Stop School Shootout!
I wonder how detailed his plans were.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 17th 2007 11:40AM
The thought of school lockdown frightens me. The school administrators are the ones that make the decision to lock down, and once in lock down, no parents can come and take their kids to safety, because the school administrators clearly know whats better for your child than you do.
Maybe instead of "lockdown", we could have more better trained security guards at schools whose job it is to protect the school from outside threats.
After all, all lockdown did at VT was make sure all his targets sat still.
Synner @ Dec 17th 2007 4:57PM
Another problem with VT is that the school was a gun free zone, meaning not even schol security could have a gun. I think the rule that if you have a CWP and still can't carry on school grounds is retarded. At the very least the security guards should be carrying. I mean, I don't see how firmly yelling "Stop" is really going to stop a gunman who has already killed.
Alex W (Vik) @ Dec 17th 2007 1:28PM
Oh shit.... Wacko Jacko in
3.....
2.....
1.....
(also even if he wasn't sincere... it's still considered terroristic threatening which is illegal. not the thought police. They are doing what they feel is the safest thing. Once they tell us to stop having opinions. That's the Thought Police)