Mother reportedly guns down 17-year-old son in argument over video game console

An Atlanta mom reportedly shot her 17-year-old son multiple times while arguing over a video game console.

Whether video games can cause players to behave violently has long since been debated. However, titles like Pokemon Go have been at the center of atrocious crimes, including several murders since the game launched in 2016.

Additionally, Pokemon cards have seen a rise in theft — one of which ended in a fatal shooting in April 2022.

Now, a mother from Atlanta, Georgia has reportedly shot her 17-year-old son several times in the heat of an argument about a video game console.

Atlanta mom charged with aggravated assault after shooting

As first reported by WSB-TV, police officers responded to a call at a southwest Atlanta apartment complex where they found a 17-year-old with multiple gunshot wounds. While the details are scarce, police discovered an argument had begun regarding an unspecified video game console.

Paramedics quickly took the child to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment, but his current condition remains unknown.

Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old Jaquana Butler and booked her into the Fulton County Jail. She faces charges of aggravated assault, reckless conduct, and cruelty to children. However, this instance wasn’t the beginning of her criminal record.

In the past 13 years, police have charged her with various crimes, like reckless conduct, abandonment of a child, forgery, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Additionally, police arrested her for aggravated battery, armed robbery, false report of a crime, weapon possession, and child abuse.

In 2019, Butler was found guilty as a first offender of four counts of second-degree child cruelty, child cruelty by causing excessive physical or mental pain, and battery family violence in a 2016 incident. The judge sentenced her to six years on probation.

Keep reading to learn more about how video games were at the forefront of certain crimes.