Man arrested for threatening to shoot 11-year-old boy after losing a match in Fortnite
A man from New York has been arrested after taking a loss in a match of Fortnite Battle Royale a little too seriously.
45-year-old Michael Aliperti, who lives in Long Island, NY, has been taken into custody after allegedly threatening to shoot an 11-year-old boy, who eliminated him in a match of Fortnite
According to authorities, after Aliperti was eliminated, he began sending the boy menacing text and voice messages on Xbox, in which he threatened that he would find and shoot him, possibly at his school in Long Island.
Aliperti was reported for sending threatening messages, and was arrested at his home on West Neck Road in Huntington at around 1:30 AM ET on September 18.
He has since been charged with second-degree aggravated harassment and acting in a manner to injure a child.
Aliperti was scheduled to be arraigned later on the 18th, although as of now, new information about the case has not been revealed.
According to his attorney, Andrew Karpf, Aliperti is currently going through a difficult divorce, and is thus under a lot of stress.
Due to its immense popularity, Fortnite has a player-base that spans across numerous age groups, including many young kids who enjoy playing the animated battle royale.
Unfortunately, that can lead to the development of situations like these, especially when someone takes things too seriously and loses perspective of the fact that it is simply a video game designed for people to have fun playing against each other.