I think it'd be hilarious if the cop was dressed as agent 47.

Not like ha ha funny...just ironic funny lol

ViolenceMan

@flame500: Yea man, I mean a good parent would just let him hire a hitman to kill them and let him learn his lesson later. I mean what were they thinking.

Hand_O_Death

I'd like a little clarification... are we talking PS1 here??

If so, this kid needs a real reality check. If it's a PS3.... then well he might get a little sympathy from a jury :P

Keebler

@Mr.Purple:
I wouldn't say that too loud... Paulie Walnuts will ruin your day, for proof, see The Sopranos.

Secret Agent Man

All I can do is laugh... this is too much!

acemonster

I'm sure all the kid wanted was to complete that frikkin level of We <3 Katamari ... which reminds me....GTG!

kvstud

The article is misleading, playstation only play a very very small role in this case. Why can't people double check what they read in online? Here is the original article
[www.washingtonpost.com]

k2001

That man does not look like a hitman, just an old man who wants a hug.

Mr.Purple

Post-birth abortion. On the house.

Kaiser-Machead

Wow. Parents who didn't treat their special snowflake like a fragile, endangered species. Good on them, I say! If only more parents would do the right thing when their kid acts like a rampaging douche.

As for the kid, one word: Haloperidol. By the bucketful. And maybe some Ritalin for good measure.

Mindfield

@mettleh3d: "That being said, how did the parents know exactly that their son was going to hire a hitman and let alone take the steps to hire the actor beforehand and make the coincidental arrangement?"

The "actor" was a cop. All this and more, in the linked article.

someToast

"Blast! Damn you vile woman!"

chueychihuahua

the parents must be terrible parents to have let him get that obsessed. seriously, that's nuts. who likes playstation anyway? it's all about the xbox 360 / wii

lafond66

Thats funny!!!
@albokay:

cekflores

I think the kid and the parents need serious help... What a crazy kid!!!

cekflores

The parents are smart, now they have the playstation all for themselves!

albokay

Unsure whether Kotaku has gotten wind of this yet, but like posts similar to this I say, "Jack Thompson is gonna be all over this."

That being said, how did the parents know exactly that their son was going to hire a hitman and let alone take the steps to hire the actor beforehand and make the coincidental arrangement? Is the kid really gullible or were there elaborate strategems we aren't privy to?

Anyway, good luck with the family. A kid who was willing to pwn a pickup for murder clearly considered and passed up pwning the pickup to buy another PS.

mettleh3d

Kudos to the parent's with brass enough to do the right thing. Couldn't have been easy to rat out junior but anyone willing to discuss the details of killing their parents with a 'hitman' because he lost his game console privileges belongs in jail. Hell, he may even need his shit pushed in a few times. File it uder "seemed like a good idea at the time but needed more thought" because who's going to pay for the, you know: elecricity, Mountain Dew and rent when the Ma and Pa are swimmin' with the fishes?

Friggin douchebag.

virtualmatt

Its called smart parents. If you realize your 16 year old kid is a videogame psychopath, you have to take necessary precautions when you take away his life force.

daftrok

The parents must really hate the kid. I can't believe that they would set him up like that.

(still a nut job, but come on whose parents do that)

flame500

@twoohfour: 16 is old enough to know better, for crying out loud--even if you have the emotional maturity of a cucumber.

Petezah

@virtualmatt:

That's a pretty ridiculous thing to say. He's 16 years old. Jesus.

twoohfour

That's the creepiest 16 year old I've ever seen!

dna

@flame500: the type that knows that their kids are fucked up? now he can get some help. the kid sounds like he's whacked out of his mind.

foureight84

hell! this was no better than a son punching his mom (kotaku.com)

Amiash

Strange, I had just watched this before reading this post.

[youtube.com]

robbiedigital

I'm sure the kid told his parents he wanted to kill them many times. The hit man setup was probably just to see if he would attempt to try and kill them.

tommo

Too much DDR is bad for any child.

Y2KGTP

Wow.. I bet anytime his PS3- will be on e-bay : )

DJJS

is it modded?

AlphaUltima

Wow talk about needing family theorapy. It's like spy versus spy... deceit... and it's pretty sad. But I got a good laugh because the Playstation was involved - honestly though, the Playstation had nothing to do with how messed up this family is.

fusiongt

its not videogames fault. thats like blaming the product a kid stole because it was so tantalizing.
its a fucked up kid

Husher

This has nothing to do with video games if you read the article.

IF you read the article that is...

strider_mt2k

@daftrok: No, smart parenting is making sure your child doesn't turn out to be a spiteful little greedy bastard in the first place. So while your praising her, just know that if he turns out to be the next mass killer its because its her fault not because of the video game. Its that simple.

bbfreak

@TKWarrior:

Meant Jack Thompson, not Jack Trentton. My bad. (Way too early).

TKWarrior

As k2001 stated earlier, this article has little to nothing to do with the kid's Playstation. If it did, I could see how this article would be (little) relevant to Gizmodo. But all this article talks about is a bad parenting job on a now wacked out kid.

WTF Adrian?!? Way to give Jack Trentton another reason to show his dumb mug on TV again. Normally I like your contributions, but this article and the misleading title answers the question why you have to offer boobies to get more votes for the site.

TKWarrior

Like it was said before... they all need help!

zarchitect

And yes...I read all 3 pages of the Washington Post article. Sounds like a spoiled brat....5800 sq/ft home in Maryland - had his own vehicle...

virtualmatt

@twoohfour:

Give me a break...I'm sure these aren't nominees for 'parents of the year' but they put more effort into that boy than most would have. Sometimes a bad apple is just that. Perhaps living in the reality of hard-core prison is what it will take to knock (or push) some sense into the little thug wannabe.

virtualmatt

This is truly a sad story and its good the mother took the necessary steps to prevent things from getting worst, but let me play devils advocate for a minute. What role did the parents play in the upbringing of this child? Did the parents teach their son the basic values of respect? You can't drop the ball as a parent then say "Oh I don't know what happened". Obviously the kid has a history of being a problem but it should have been the parents to address those issues the first time they saw signs of it years ago and maybe they did address those issue but you know what? That kid is so screwed up in the head that he will probably not see the inside of jail and just be commited to a mental institution for rehabilitation then place back into society a few years from now. Thats the scary part

quietstorm45

All the hitmen turn out to be cops these days. Its like being stuck in a bad horror movie. Come on man, don't go in that room, you KNOW the zombie is in there.

DashTheHand

The Washington Post article is WAY more scary than the article here. Thanks K2001. I've been a teacher and I'm a parent and I know bad when I see it. This kid has made his decision. He's a bad one. He could turn his life around through his own hard work and effort, but let's be fair... It's highly unlikely. The more likely story is that he's in juvi until he's 21. He's out for about 3 months and then knocks over a package store. Then, either jail or dead from a O.D. or with a hole in his head. Sad. Unfortunate. All too likely.

Oldbrass

Is the picture in the post of the 16 year old? Or of his mom? Either way, scary.

tarochan

Won't someone please think of the children??? Save them, Dr. Phil!!!

homerjay

"Where's the bike, mom? WHERE'S THE BIKE???"

[www.derrickcomedy.com]

Hunty

Doesn't everyone know by now that on the internet all hitmen are cops, and all 17 year old girls are 300 pound guys?

atomx

They did right, that kid is very troubled. To bad he will probablly spend the rest of his life in and out of prison.

Razta

Its like a real life Stewey Griffin

Supergeek817

the problem isn't with games, its with lack of discipline.

"Stop whining! You kids are soft. You lack discipline. - Detective John Kimble"

Mike.leger

@flame500:

Heh if my kid had tendencies to kill me...you better believe he is going down.

Saboth

A kid like this, who made this decision, would end up being the NEXT SHOOTER IN A SCHOOL. If the story is as it has been laid out in all the related articles, then he deserves whatever he gets.

Joe-King

He was quickly taken into custody where he is being held for attempted murder.

whatever... he'll just lose a $1000 and respawn right outside the station.

he'll have to start the mission over though.

x23

Looks like another case of Malibu's Most Wanted gone bad. Chalk another one up for the Darwin Awards.

spaceman7

talk about pulling things out of context. this kid needs psychiatric help.

@icelight: he isnt comfortable with having to compete for his moms affection with another man and was acting out to get her attention. since his mom failed to give it to him he seems to have had a complete social breakdown

mwalker05

At the risk of making a diagnosis without knowing all the facts, it sounds like a pretty classic antisocial personality disorder; essentially that he really had nothing that the rest of society would call "morals" (the type of person who kills small animals for fun). At that point, it's a pathological development problem, likely in no way related to whether or not he played video games. And definitely, kudos to his parents for being able to recognize that; they're often the ones most in denial that their child might have a problem. And indeed the best thing they could do for him would be exactly that- to get him into the position where he'll be able to receive real psychiatric treatment.

icelight

Man this kid's worse than the one who punched his mom in the face for taking away his Xbox 360 "air card". This guy's gonna be despised by his whole family even beyond the grave.

Nintenboy01

pwnt

Pensador

Uhm, either they are really bad parents for raising a child to behave this way, or they have horrible genes. In either case, news flash, procreation wasn't something meant for all to enjoy...

berribrand

What is this? An episode from The Sopranos II?

FrankenPC

@Kaiser-Machead: Lmao, I'm gonna have to borrow that one.

jawzxy

@flame500:

Parents who are afraid. What do you do when your kid tries to have you killed? You have him jailed.

On the other hand, why would you give and give until your child tried to have you killed. Who kills for a Playstation?

sibertater

Sounds like this mother shouldn't have had a child at 19 years old. I do see the difference between wanting your parents whacked and having a child at a young age...but I have to say that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Suckas...

mitc7930

There are so many people posting about how smart the parents were in doing what they did. I completely and wholeheartedly disagree. The parents clearly did not raise their child well, having issues of their own that they need to solve. The mother divorced the father at an early age and either could not raise her son well enough alone or was just a terrible parent.

Loving parents would make sure their children grow up well. When your son is charged for vandalizing while in middle school, you should know you already have issues and should do your best to solve them. His parents obviously didn't because he dropped out of school shorty after. And for them to actually plot against their son using a fake hitman clearly shows us how much they love him.

No one who really loves their children would test them like that. Would you introduce your husband to a gorgeous, funny, and intelligent woman, expecting him to cheat on you just because you see a potential that he would? Would you stash drugs in your son's jacket pocket just because you think he could do drugs? The parents are absolutely terrible, and this whole thing is a result of it. They deserve the lives that they've built for themselves.

izrofel

Life Lesson: Where a condom and avoid all this.

Immutablyme

@Immutablyme: Yes I agree with that completely. If you do have a child, remember, don't be an ass and take something important away like this if they are going to go nuts. Perhaps raise your child better, but please don't take away the video games.

Also, the act of setting up your child will scar them for life and just add more problems to the list that they already have.

WCD_Thor