A man is dead in Washington following an argument that turned into a fatal shooting. Joshua G. Spellman of Amboy, Washington, aged 36, is accused of second-degree murder after allegedly shooting a childhood friend over an argument about Diablo 2 loot.
The news comes via The Columbian (courtesy of PC Gamer). The 34-year-old victim, Andrew Dickson, had been friends with Spellman for 26 years. Both were playing Diablo 2 on the same property but in different buildings on Friday, December 17. They were communicating via headset.
At some point during their game session, a random player entered the game and stole a valuable piece of loot. The game should have been password-protected, but the host forgot to enable the feature. The article doesn't describe what exactly was so valuable, but it was apparently valuable enough to send Dickson into a rage, "yelling, name-calling, and cursing" for between three to five minutes.
According to an affidavit, Spellman told Dickson to calm down or he would shoot him. When Dickson remained enraged, Spellman took his handgun from beside his computer and started walking to the main house on the property, firing his gun into the air once before entering.
The gunshot evidently got the attention of Spellman's father, who spoke to Spellman first upon his entry. Then Dickson entered the main house and confronted Spellman for threatening to shoot him. Dickson "closed the distance" with Spellman, who then shot Dickson once in the torso.
Dickson was taken to hospital for surgery but later died of his injuries.
At one point during an interview with detectives, Spellman was asked why he kept his pistol next to his computer. "Why not?" Spellman replied. "This is America." Spellman is being held on $750,000 bail with his arraignment scheduled for December 29.
There’s certainly an argument to be made for better gun control in America based on these tragic events. A game with a proposed level about a school shooting has also stirred some controversy recently.
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