What is it about teens feeling entitled to video games?

Cleveland.com has an update on an event that transpired a little over a year ago, when the then 16-year old Daniel Petric shot both of his parents, killing his mother over not letting him play a copy of Halo 3 he had managed to acquire (nice job to whichever retailer let this one go).

According to prosecutors, Daniel had attempted to make it look like a murder-suicide.

Prior to the shooting, he had sneaked out of the house in order to procure a copy of Master Chief's final battle, but was caught by his parents upon his return. His father, Mark, then took the game, putting it away in a lock box which also contained a 9 mm handgun, all hidden away in their closet. But not hidden nor locked well enough, apparently, as Daniel soon removed the game and gun from their container.

Mark Petric, who is a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, testified that before the shooting on Oct. 20, 2007, his then-16-year-old son came into the room with a question:

"Would you guys close your eyes," Daniel Petric asked. "I have a surprise for you."

Mark Petric said he expected a pleasant surprise. The next thing he knew, his head went numb. He had been shot in the head.

Susan Petric, 43, died of gunshot wound to the head.

He said the next thing he remembers is his son shoving the gun in his hand and saying, "Hey Dad, here's your gun. Take it." -- Cleveland.com

While explaining how he survived the shooting, Mark broke down on the witness stand, telling of how his daughter and her husband had arrived to watch an Indians game, but were stopped at the door by his son.

"You can't come in," Mark Petric recalled his son saying. "You guys shouldn't come in. Mom and Dad had a big argument."

Mark Petric said all he could do was make a guttural yell for help.

In the time since, Mark has been allowed to visit his son in jail, with Daniel apologizing for his actions.

"Dad, I'm so sorry for what I did to Mom, to you and to the family," Daniel Petric said, according to his father. "I'm so glad you are alive."

"You're my son," Mark Petric responded. "You're my boy."

Mark Petric said his son told him he could hardly live with the guilt over what he did.

"He would cry, and I would cry," Mark Petric told the jury.

He said Susan Petric and their son had a very close relationship.

"He was always her little boy," Mark Petric told the jury.

Daniel's lawyers revealed in their opening statement to the jury that he had been "under a great deal of stress" as a result of a snowboarding accident, which left him with a severe staph infection. This kept him homebound for a year with nothing to do but watch TV and play video games.

I suppose that when that's all you can do, and then you're denied one, that might agitate a person. But to this degree? I guess you kind of have to be there.

Now, at Daniel's request, the case is being tried to a Lorain County Common Pleas judge, rather than a jury.

As Kotaku points out:

The parents were doing what I always suggest parents do, monitoring their son's gameplay and making sure he doesn't play what they don't approve of. Sadly in this case it backfired. -- Kotaku

One can only wonder how this story might affect those parents who actually put their foot down about such things.