17-year-old shoots family dead in Pakistan over PUBG game

In Pakistan, a terrible tragedy occurred that is hard to believe. In the city of Lahore, a 17-year-old teenager named Zain Ali shot and killed his mother, brother, and two sisters. Following this crime, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment, The Independent reported.

According to the information, the verdict was announced on September 24 of this year in a Lahore court. Judge Riaz Ahmad sentenced Ali to 100 years in prison, 25 years for each murder. However, taking into account his age, the death penalty was not applied.

According to the judge, one of the reasons why Ali brutally killed his entire family was his excessive addiction to the online game PUBG and his loss of the ability to think rationally. “He was mentally broken under the influence of the game and could not adequately assess the situation at that moment,” the judge said.

The tragedy happened in 2021. At that time, Ali was only 14 years old. He lived with his family in the busy Kahna district of Lahore and was known locally as a teenager completely absorbed in PUBG. His relatives often scolded him for locking himself in his room and spending day and night playing the game.

According to police information, Ali would become irritable and even aggressive when he could not complete the tasks. On the night of the crime, the same thing happened: he failed a mission in the game, and his mother harshly reprimanded him. Unable to bear this, the teenager took a pistol, entered the room where his mother and sisters were sleeping, and opened fire.

As a result, his mother (45 years old), brother Taimur (20 years old), and sisters Mahnoor (15 years old) and Jannat (10 years old) died on the spot. This news caused a great outcry in the country. Society once again raised a serious debate about the negative impact of internet games on the psyche of young people.

In the court’s decision, it was stated that the main factor of the crime was Ali’s addiction to the game. Law enforcement representatives emphasized that in order to prevent such cases, parents must monitor the virtual life of their children.