‘Gaming addict’ kills two relatives, friend

Youth also injures mother, brother in shooting spree

LAHORE:

A man shot dead two members of his family and a friend in Nawankot, Punjab on Monday, apparently on the pattern of a violent online game he was obsessed with.

The young man opened indiscriminate fire in his home and neighbourhood, leaving his sister, brother-in-law and friend dead, while his mother and brother also suffered bullet injuries.

Police arrested the suspect who, according to officials, conceded in his initial statement that he had carried out the attack after a domestic dispute over a fraud of Rs15 million.

Rana Bilal, a resident of Sikandar Colony, had reportedly been addicted to the game PUBG.

He opened indiscriminate fire at his family members during a domestic quarrel, severely injuring his mother, brother, sister, sister-in-law and a friend.

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The injured were rushed to hospital, where his sister Maria, sister-in-law Uzma and friend Zahid succumbed to their injuries.

According to doctors, the injured mother of the suspect was out of danger, while the condition of brother Ali was critical. According to Iqbal Town SP Owais Shafiq, police reached the spot upon receiving information about the incident, arrested Bilal and also also seized his pistol. The suspected had borrowed the gun from a friend.

He said that the suspect also opened fire on Dolphin Squad personnel but they remained safe.

Bilal was reportedly obsessed with online shooting game PUBG and was also addicted to drugs.

In his initial statement before the police, he claimed that his family members had committed fraud of Rs15 million.

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Bazdar and inspector general of police (IGP) took notice of the incident and sought a report from Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar.

SP Owais Shafiq said the game had an effect on the suspect to such an extent that he chased his friend Zahid, who lived next door, and killed him inside a washroom in a style typical of PUBG.

He said Bilal had also divorced his wife a few days earlier. Police moved the bodies to the morgue for autopsy.

Police officials had also suspected links to addiction to violent online games in several earlier cases of suicide by youth.

Commenting on the issue, a psychologist, Dr Ayesha Sheikh, said people who played online shooting games for hours daily often developed mental problems. In games such as PUBG, a player needs to kill dozens of people with the help of modern weapons in order to advance to the next stage. She said addicted players saw bloodshed for a long time, due to which they lost track of the reality.

She said the suspect in the firing incident was also reported to be addicted to the drug Ice, which might have contributed to his disconnection with the reality.

Ice addicts must undergo psychiatric treatment to return to normal lives, the psychologist said, adding that those who played online shooting games beyond moderation risked their mental stability.

According to Dr Sheikh, gaming addicts generally become irritable and avoid making real friends, although they may have online friends. It has been observed that if such people are prevented from playing the games, they may become desperate, she added.

On June 24, 2020, the city police have decided to seek a ban on the Players Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) online video game owing to its devastating impacts on the mental health of the youth after two incidents of suicide were reported in the past three days.

Violent behaviour among the players was also reported.

Police had written a letter to the Federal Investigations Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for the ban. Once engaged, youngsters are forced to play on and act as the game pushes them. They would keep on playing to achieve the target.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2021.