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Jagex Busts Teen for School Shooting Comment  A teen has been arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot up his school after commenting in an MMO. Funny thing about the internet, nothing ever really goes away. While MMO chat usually is little more than irritating banter, things stand out occasionally. When someone chatted "I'm shooting up my school tomorrow" in "an online game through Jagex Ltd" (most likely Runescape), people perked up a bit. Players reported the incident to Jagex, who in turn reported it to the police. The next day, 18-year-old Thomas Frongillo of Oxford, MA was arrested and charged with "threatening to commit a crime and threatening a bombing or hijacking." He was released on $50,000 bail after his arraignment on Thursday. The transcript provided to the local police reveal that Frongillo also made anti-Semitic comments and drew a "Nazi symbol" in-game. When another player referred to him as a "Jew killer", he's alleged to have responded "If only." Further digging revealed that he previously talked about shooting a squirrel with a .12 shotgun. According to Frongillo's lawyer, the words were "a harmless jest", and never intended to attack the school where he has a 3.25 GPA. Frongillo is studying criminal justice at the Anna Maria, but apparently never got to the part about not making terrorist threats online. The local police searched his home and removed several firearms which were legally purchased by Frongillo's father. He can stay at home while out on bail, but has to stay away from the Anna Maria campus and surrender any other guns he might have, as well as his Firearms Identification Card. He's due back in court April 19th. Source and Picture: Telegram and Gazette | |
What a dickface. He may or may not have been taking the piss but he needed to be made an example of. | |
Hey Congress, gamers just PREVENTED a school shooting! | |
This seems a bit like common sense, with all that's going on who would honestly joke about that? | |
It's really good the gamers who saw those comments weren't passive about that, they may have just prevented a massacre. They should get some kind of XP boost or something. | |
I agree +4x EXP multiplier for a month or something, and some special shiny ingame armour or weapons that sparkle. It's good to see some good news coming out of video games for once... | |
Hm, think I'll just edit mine a little. I'm sorry to all the people that's cheering this, but I really don't like the idea of people being arrested solely on what they say, especially in a online setting where people are used to that anonymous feeling which tends to make people say what they would normally never say/act IRL. And definitely when it's a dumb teen who are known for saying stupid meaningless crap just to try to make themselves look good/superior. There had to be a better way to deal with this, and I would be extremely surprised if the charges stick, much less gets in front of a jury. | |
I don't know how to feel,on one hand this could have prevented a tragedy and the guys sounds horrible..........but on the other hand being arrested for an online comment and brought to trial,sounds really-really-really invasive I mean does that mean that someone who say's "I'm so angry I could kill someone" in the spur of the moment between friends can be arrested? Like it could easily damage free speech-and before you spout "free speech doesn't give you the right to avoid the consequences of your words-punishing those who say bad things isn't destroying free speech" well in practise it kinda does,I mean by punishing people over what they say you're effectively preventing society from voicing their opinion-after all if the gov said "anyone who disagrees with us vocally will be executed" would be classified as destroying free speech but by the logic stated in the beginning it wouldn't be after all there still allowing you to say it they're not physically preventing you from saying the words just punishing you afterwards. I know the above example is massive exaggeration but really isn't the same thing just on a much-much-much smaller scale you're still punishing people for what they have said scaring people into not talking/making it reasonable impossible for them to say something. I'm not saying don't do an investigation/keep a close eye on the person but actual going to court over it-sorry I don't like it. | |
Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa. I mean, not the most savory character, yeah okay. | |
Considering the amount of times someone has said something like that on the Internet and then gone and done it, reporting it seems like the responsible thing to do. Besides, people need to learn that anonymity on the Internet is a lie and everything you say out there, stays out there and can and will be used against you. | |
It doesn't matter if he did or didn't, simply threatening to do so is a crime. It doesn't matter if you talk about shooting one person or a dozen. It's not as serious a crime as actually doing it, but legally, that's not something that's condoned. There are many such limits on free speech. Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is another good example. | |
Threatening to attack someone, their property, etc is illegal in the US. I forget the actual classification, but it basically boils down to "Your free speech ends where the next guy's peace of mind begins". Whether or not you actually agree that that should be the case, that is the way the law is currently set up. It's not normally enforced unless it's obvious the threat was serious, but with the recent media attention on school shootings, I'm not surprised they overreacted slightly to this. OT: On the other, I can't help but support anything that will make people stop being such incredible fuckwits online. Maybe next time this guy will think twice before making an ass of himself. | |
I am familiar with how the country is in regards to things like this, but I guess I didn't see the broadcast or read the pamphlet when we went from: I guess I was just actually unaware we've gotten to the point now where we just cut out the middle bit and the need for proof. | |
You must've missed this then. As fresh as that is in our country's collective mind, I'm not really surprised by the actions taken. He said something stupid, but did he mean it? I can't say. I don't know, but it doesn't change the fact that even joking about shooting up a school after what happened in Connecticut is absolutely asinine. Especially so soon after the fact. Do I agree with the actions taken? I'm in the same boat as Agayek there. | |
It's never been like that. If someone is charged with a crime, they can and will be arrested, pending investigation. That's exactly what happened here. He was charged with "threatening to commit a crime and threatening a bombing or hijacking", and was arrested for it. Now the police are investigating the alleged crime and compiling evidence and preparing a case against him. In the meantime, he's free to either sit in jail, or post bail and return to his home to await trial. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be brought to trial and a verdict will be reached and the judge will decide punishment. That's the way our legal system has always been. All it takes is the accusation to arrest someone. Of course, there's a bunch of penalties for falsely charging someone with a crime, so the cops are generally pretty cautious about that until they have solid evidence already. That's why I called it an overreaction in my last post. | |
Charges will stick because the evidence. There was no illegal search and seizure as the company (Jangex) freely gave information from their own data base. Also, there are things such as User Agreements that mention a player should NOT use the services for the purposes of illegal activity (and saying you're going to shoot up your school is a prime example of an illegal activity). It's not a matter of just 'what a person says', but the context of what's being said... Examples: -A) "I wish my school would burn down." -B) "I hate my school." -C) "I'm going to burn my school to the ground tomorrow." In examples A and B, they're nothing but open free speech and wishful thinking. Even example A is not a threat, but just along the lines of wishing that someone you know would get struck by lightning (i.e. have really bad luck). Example C, however, is an over-the-line threat that is not protected under the 1st Amendment. A threat of physical harm, attack, violence, or other such misconduct that shall impose danger to other human beings and put their physical well being in trouble is considered a crime. Because as such, the police cannot read minds (yet) and cannot tell whether your threats are empty or real; all threats treated equally as harmful. | |
STONE. COLD. KILLA. | |
I see proportional responses aren't just missing in the internets world, if everyone went to jail for bad jokes well then every living person would end up there at some point. | |
A couple of things I'd like to say about this. It was good that the people on the server reported him. You never know when you might be dealing with a lunatic on the internet. Of course the chances of someone being an actual lunatic are slim, but it's not something that you should just ignore. | |
My basic opinion is that I hope both Jagex and Massachusetts (the state where this took place) get sued to near oblivion. The guy is an asshole to be honest, but I'm a big believer in free speech, and common sense being used to interpet the law as well. Things like time, place, and context matter. To me this is the same as someone in school drawing a gun, or writing a horror story where analogies to people in his school die (a lot of writers use locations they are familiar with and characters based on people they know for stories), or whatever else. He was being a dumbarse in an MMO chat trying to troll and get a rise out of people, to threaten his school he would have had to direct it to the school, and to be honest I believe in an MMO there is a degree of privacy expected when your using an anonymous handle/character name. In a case like this it runs an odd combination where the expected anonimity of the game itself, combined with a public channel within that game, makes the threat posed extremely unlikely. Likewise, while I might not agree with the statements themselves, part of free speech is to be as racist as you want to be, people might not agree with you, and ostracize you because of your comments, but you do have the right to make them. To be blunt this guy deserved to be added to a bunch of /ignore lists, but when Jagex got involved and then outed him to the police for being an idiot and trying to get a rise out of people, that was going too far. What's more the police wasting time, effort, and resources on something like this is pretty stupid. I kind of get how things like "Sandy Hook" affected people, and the influance "Columbine" had on things beforehand, but really, some kind of common sense has to be used, and this kind of "police state" behavior is exactly what the US is not supposed to have. If the goverment wants to react like this it should try and justify declaring martial law, otherwise in peacetime it generally needs to blow off. I say this because I confess to finding a degree of amusement from a good troll (no matter how "wrong") while grinding in an MMO, even if I don't do it myself. The "toxin" of things like WoW's "Barrens Chat" continues because it's a tradition and because people on both sides find it amusing, and it helps pass the time in one of the longer and more grind-tastic progression zones in WoW. It sounds odd, but I think the last thing we need is a precedent for MMO companies turning in players for stupid comments like this, which will lead to paranoia in MMO channels and such, which will lead to everyone being on guard all the time... and really I think things will be poorer for it. What's more I'll be honest in saying that while the police might have been in line to perhaps question the kid, or scope out the school at the time the shooting was supposed to take place, making an arrest for being a jerk in an MMO and no other evidence apparently sounds like the kind of idiocy I'd expect from the Waffen SS and citizen informers in Nazi Germany (here goes Godwin's Law!) not in the US. I mean god forbid, I ordered a Steampunk Fairy statue last year and it showed up at my house broken, and I made some rather violent and anti-social comments about what I wanted to do to both the post office and the vendor I ordered from (since it's hard to say whose fault it was). If Jagex heard me, they would probably have complainted to the point where the state would be wheeling me into the court room in Hannibal Lector type restraintsl, screaming I was the worst terrorist since Bin Ladin. | |
Good riddance to intellectually barren rubbish. Just because you're on the internet doesn't mean you're not accountable for what you're saying, and if you're _stupid_ enough to make terrorist theats online you deserve to get hauled off by the police. | |
They pretty much have him over a barrel They had the intent, and by collecting the weapons from his home they found his means. All they had left was opportunity, which he said he was going to shoot the school up TOMORROW. I suppose some retard in the justice system could drool on himself when they have a person with means and opportunity making threats and go "derrr well we ought to wait till he does somem I suppose..." and then let a few people die before arresting him... OT: Good, hope they throw the book at him and knock him senseless with it. It is not hard NOT to make threats (Credible ones no less) on the internet. Just because you dont know the people in real life you are talking to doesnt mean you should run your mouth. If you wouldnt walk up to a group of strangers on the street and say something, best to keep it to yourself/ your friends no matter where you are. | |
If it was indeed just a jest, what an absolute numpty. If he was serious, once he's locked up toss the bloody key. I'm sick of these people who apparently put no value on life. Beyond that, as someone posted; gamers just pre-empted a shooting. Someone may wanna email senator Whatsherfase. | |
At least he is getting some practise in for his schoolwork, just from the wrong side of the law. Hopefully he has learned that threatening to murder people isn't very nice. | |
I second this^. Vive, le Jagex! Vive, la Runescape! | |
Good. Can't understand all the people saying "I believe in free speech, and he shouldn't be punished for saying those things!". | |
Actually, I'd be rather offended if nothing would 'stick', as you put it. And with him studying criminal justice, I really think he deserves to experience the full force facial of some of that applied law and justice business. There was a threat that people considered to be worth some attention. There are/were guns in the house. Daddy dearest bailed him out for 50k. The sum of these facts rubs me the wrong way - up, down and sideways. I usually don't report brats and kids being bittersweet, annoying cuntmuffins online. It's their shitty lives, I want none of that. I ignore them, I mute them, or I go, go, go away. I don't mind swastikas much. Utterings like the 'if only', though, I do mind. If, however, someone starts posting threats, party's over. Obviously, I don't agree with Feinstein on games. I'd like to hear what she's got to say on this. I would assume this is a real-world problem she should have a proper answer to. | |
Me neither, the guy might be a colossal idiot. But there's nothing to suggest he was going to do anything. Still, I wouldn't assume a jury will see any form of reason here. School shootings are one of those emotionally charged topics where virtually everyone just sees red at the mere mention of it. I think the guy is gonna get lambasted. | |
Absolutely shameful behaviour. Still playing Runescape in 2013?! Seriously though, as much as I think free speech should be respected on all sides, this is a perfectly valid example of the "where do you draw the line?" question. We can have very good discussions on how much of an overkill this was, but then again if he actually DID go and cause another shooting I think most people here would be demanding to know what the authorities were thinking when ignoring the message. | |
I think this guy is an asshole, but the only thing keeping him under surveillance is the fear that he might do it. Not the actual evidence. They have no motive. Which just goes to show how fucked up American society had become. It runs on scaremongering. These are the things that American government will use as an excuse to spy on their citizens via internet. They're not even trying to solve the real problems behind mass shootings. This is what they do instead. CISPA just passed a few days ago by the way. And the proposed gun control regulations are a joke with a loophole large enough you could fit entire North American continent through it. The more scared the people are, the easier it is for them to give up their freedoms to feel a bit safer, instead of focusing their efforts on fixing the actual problems. This case only managed to show people that joking online can get you in a serious trouble. Which just means that people who actually want to commit crimes like that are now less likely to talk about it online. It doesn't actually stop anyone from doing anything. My god, America is becoming a bigger shithole with each passing day. | |
Other than saying he was going to do it, having the means to do it, and having the opportunity to do it. I agree with the person above me, people whine and moan about this now, but if he had made the statements and followed through the same people would be moaning and whining about why the police didnt do anything about a credible threat. | |
I've often threatened to rob a bank in jest before. Am I now to be considered as a threat to all banks? | |
Threatening to go on a shooting rampage is a bit past a joke, or only a joke a complete retard would tell to strangers. If you were looking for a history of mental illness there is a bit for you right there. And this had little to nothing to do with the american government, you are just ranting on into tinfoil hat territory, which you are welcome to, just dont expect anyone to take you seriously. People saw a person making threats, that turned out to be credible, and reported it, and a company passed it along. | |
Don't like 60% of American teenagers have the means if we're going to count their parents guns? And by virtue of them all being in school, they all have the opportunity. So, unless you can prove actual intent and not some empty childish threat. Then excuse me if I'm not convinced he was actually going to do anything. If we're going to start sentencing people with crimes they might commit, then we're gonna be here a long time. | |
Who has been sentenced so far exactly? He made a credible threat, and had the means and opportunity to carry out that threat, so he has been arrested while the investigation is underway. | |
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