They mistakenly blame shooting video games in Torreón, Coahuila

The morning of January 10, 2020 was spotted by a tragedy in Mexico, since an attack was recorded inside the Cervantes College in Torreón, Coahuila. Reports indicate that a sixth grade elementary school student started a shooting in which he murdered his teacher, injured 5 students and a teacher to end his life. Faced with a tragedy of this dimension, many have sought a responsible and fingers of the authorities wrongly pointed to video games.

At a press conference, Miguel Ángel Riquelme, governor of Coahuila, said the 11-year-old began the attack inspired by a video game called Natural Selection. Also, Riquelme said that the young man was wearing a shirt with the name of this game the day he made the attack.

“The unfortunate facts in the first place give a specific psychological profile of the child, which in the inquiries will have to be solved, but apparently the child influenced by a game – or a video game – called Natural Selection. Even the child’s shirt at the bottom brings the name of the video game. [The game] influences him to commit the pitiful deeds, ”were the words of the governor.

Riquelme said the “game gives a very clear simulation of the handling of high caliber weapons.” We know that Natural Selection is a mod for Half-Life that Unknown Wolrds Entertainment launched in 2002, which received a second part in October 2012. Half Life is a hybrid between FPS and RTS faces space marines against an alien species in combats that lack a high level of simulation. It is worth mentioning that we searched stores like Steam, the App Store and Google Play in search of other games with this name and it was the only one that is an FPS.

On the other hand, it seems that the 11-year-old boy wore the shirt with the phrase Natural Selection inspired by the Columbine Massacre, a school shooting that took place in 1999 at a US high school. One of those responsible for this killing was Eric Harris, who at that time was wearing a shirt with the same phrase.

That the media and authorities blame killing video games of this kind is nothing new. Only a few months ago, the United States was struck by a wave of violence that resulted in shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. After this, several politicians said it was the fault of the video games. Although several people share this opinion, the reality is that there are scientific studies that rule out that there is a link between gaming and this type of violent behavior.