Police in Pakistan’s Punjab province’s capital, Lahore, claimed on Friday that a 14-year-old boy killed his whole family, including his mother and two little sisters, while “under the influence” of the online game PUBG.
Last week, Nahid Mubarak, a 45-year-old health worker, was discovered dead in Lahore’s Kahna neighborhood alongside her 22-year-old son Taimur and two daughters aged 17 and 11. According to investigators, her adolescent son, who was unharmed and is the family’s sole survivor, turned out to be the killer.
“Under the influence of the game, the PUBG (Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds) addict confessed to killing her mother and siblings.” He has developed certain psychological troubles as a result of spending so much time playing the online game,” according to the statement.
Nahid, according to police, was a divorcee who used to chastise the youngster for not paying attention in class and spent most of his time playing PUBG.
“Nahid chastised the youngster for the occurrence on the day of the incident. Later, the kid got her mother’s revolver from a closet and shot her and his three other siblings in the back of the head as they were sleeping.
“The next morning, the kid raised an alarm, prompting the neighbors to summon the cops. “At the time, the boy told police he was on the upper floor of the house and had no idea how his family was killed,” according to the statement.
Nahid bought the licensed handgun for her family’s safety, according to police, who added that the weapon has yet to be found from a sewer where the child put it. According to them, the suspect’s blood-stained cloth has been found.
This is the fourth such incident linked to the online game in Lahore, according to a story in the Dawn daily. When the first incidence came to light in 2020, then-capital city police officer Zulfiqar Hameed proposed banning the game to save millions of kids’ lives, time, and future.
In the previous two years, three teenage players of the game have committed suicide, with the authorities citing PUBG as the cause of death in their papers.
Gaming disorder has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a condition in the International Classification of Diseases.
Gaming disorder is defined as a pattern of behaviour characterized by impaired control over gaming (digital or video), prioritization of gaming over other activities to the point where gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continued or escalation of gaming despite negative consequences.