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Illinois Man Faces Murder Charges for Slaying Fellow Gamer

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Virtual headshots lead to real headshots, as an Illinois man is charged with slaying an acquaintance with whom he had been playing videogames.

28-year-old Illinois resident Joseph Johnson was charged with first-degree murder last week, after he allegedly murdered Danny Taylor earlier this month.

According to police, the two had been playing a multiplayer Xbox game — sources claim it was most likely Call of Duty — with the mother of Taylor’s child. An argument broke out between the two men, and when the woman momentarily left Johnson shot Taylor in the head.

The unnamed woman then witnessed Johnson fleeing the scene carrying a gun.

In a particularly morbid bit of journalism the Chicago Sun-Times says the woman then “went inside and found Taylor — with the joystick for the video game still in his hand — dead and the game still playing.”

As if Microsoft’s console ought to learn a bit more reverence for the dead, by at least pausing the action when a player catches a bullet to the brain.

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