We’ve talked about how Fortnite has to lead to severe gaming addictions and even divorce, but now one man has taken the game to a new extreme. A New York man was arrested after he threatened to shoot a child after losing in Fortnite. The boy was just 11 years old.
Michael Aliperti, 45, of Long Island, threatened that he would go to the boy’s home and harm him and also alluded to his school.
Aftermath
According to the report from Newsday, these alleged threats were made through text messages and online voice messages at around 9:00pm Monday. The pair had been playing Fortnite together for months. The boy’s family ended up reporting the incident, after which point the police increased their presence at his school.
“We took this as a school threat,” Suffolk County Police Chief of Department Stuart Cameron in a statement. “That was done out of an abundance of caution.”
Suffolk County Police arrested Michael Aliperti, 45, of Huntington, after he threatened to shoot an 11-year-old child following a video game loss. pic.twitter.com/oCkBl3D77I
— Suffolk County PD (@SCPDHq) September 19, 2018
Aliperti was arrested Tuesday on charges of aggravated harassment and acting in a manner to injure a child. His bail was set at $2,500 and an order of protection was issued for the victim.
Clearly, this man has issues and needs help. Hopefully the child can feel safe to game online again. This also serves as a warning for parents to monitor who their children are interacting with online.
Very scary stuff and no one should be afraid to play online if threats like these are possible. A well-done job on the Police Department’s part for acting swiftly. They helped protect the child, his family, and the school from what could have been a serious situation.
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