Lead Stories
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The Web master of the Internet site that hosts Kaboom: The Suicide Bomber Game (the more bystanders you wound or kill, the higher your score) told the New York Times in December that the game has been played about 875,000 times since its introduction in April; other offerings on the site include Extreme WTC Jumper, Sniper’s Revenge, and Pico’s School (modeled after the Columbine shootings). The Web master explained that Kaboom contains no specific references to Israelis or Palestinians, and added that “people…need to lighten up and realize there are far worse problems in the world than what games people are playing.”
In October in Bennington, Vermont, 18-year-old Nicholas Perotta was charged with several traffic violations after his pickup truck collided with a utility pole, causing minor injuries to his three passengers. Perotta told police that one of his stereo speakers had shorted out, and that he’d deliberately run off the road hoping he’d hit a bump and jar it back into working order.
In an unfolding story from Kassel, Germany, a man identified only as Armin M., who was already in police custody, turned over a video in December that allegedly shows him killing a 42-year-old man who’d answered a chat-room notice reading “Gay male seeks hunks 18-30 to slaughter.” Armin, 41, has confessed to eating his victim’s flesh and to freezing parts of the body for later meals. (He reportedly told police that he’d never eat a woman, because “they are too important for the survival of mankind.”) The victim, a computer chip developer, had written his will (and had it notarized) the morning before he left his Berlin home to meet Armin; the video shows both men eating the victim’s penis after he’d consented to its amputation. The victim then climbed into a bathtub and waited to pass out from blood loss–Armin had agreed not to cut his throat and butcher him until after he’d lost consciousness. Investigators who’ve watched Armin’s video have reportedly had to undergo psychiatric counseling.
In the Last Month
