A Teenager Was Arrested After Using An iPhone App To Go On A Virtual Shooting Spree
We first heard about this story on The Daily Dot.
Real Strike is a mobile application that allows the user to edit any video from an iPhone or similar device, and superimpose on it video game style guns, allowing the user to "shoot" whatever is in front of the camera's lens. The 15-year-old at H.L. Bourgeois High School used Real Strike to make a video that portrayed him as the shooter. The teen uploaded the video to YouTube, and worried parents reported it to officials Wednesday, authorities said.
This is the description of Real Strike in the iTunes app store:
Do you ever wonder bringing the fun of First-Person-Shooting into reality? Real Strike is the first app that does exactly that! It mixes up the camera and the real-time computed 3D gun animation into an integrated view, allowing you to turn the forest, street, office or whatever environment you are in into a military simulation field. And, you can make a movie while you play!
A representative from the sheriff's department said that the teen said he had made the video because he was bullied by his classmates, but had never intended to hurt anyone. According to the teen's parents, he did not have access to firearms.
"We don't know at what time that game becomes a reality," the representative told local ABC affiliate WGNO.
The teen is facing criminal charges for terrorizing and interference of the operation of a school. Real Strike remains in the app store with a 4 star rating. The YouTube video has been taken down. In 2011, Google removed a "Google Shoot View" app based on its Street View mapping tool for similar reasons - the app superimposed a first-person shooter video game frame onto Street View scenes.