By Stevie Smith Feb 19, 2008, 8:11 GMT
Here’s a somewhat amusing cautionary tale for those familiar with the odd sensation of detached disorientation that lingers behind the eyes directly after a late-night marathon gaming session involving hours of action and very little blinking.
Louisiana gamer in trouble following "I have killed them all" phone call. Credit: JoeMadonna/Flickr.
Avid gamer Thomas Ballard of Delhi, Louisiana, has unwittingly landed himself in hot water with authorities this week after mistakenly phoning a complete stranger in the middle of the night and announcing, “I have killed them all.”
The News Star reports that 29-year-old Ballard had apparently been trying to call a friend to convey his proud victory in dispatching videogame “bad guys,” only to be heard by an unknown but instantly concerned women on the other end of the line.
The woman promptly took Ballard’s number from her phone’s caller ID feature and contacted the appropriate authorities to report the call.
Members of the local police duly arrived at Ballard’s home, where it was quickly established that no one had been killed within the property and that Ballard had simply been playing videogames.
However, a seemingly innocent mistake on Ballard’s part soon became something much more serious when the attending officers uncovered a 5-year-old warrant from Baton Rouge against Ballard for a failure to appear on a possession of cocaine charge.
Subsequently, Ballard has been booked into a local detention center ahead of his extradition to Baton Rouge, where he’s no-doubt calling into question studies that suggest gaming improves hand-eye coordination.
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