Daniel Petric
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Daniel Petric (August 24th, 1991 - ) is a convicted murderer from Wellington, Ohio. At the age of 16, Petric shot both of his parents, Susan and Mark Petric, over a disagreement about video games. His mother Susan was killed and his father Mark was badly injured, but fortunately recovered.
About one week after the game was taken away from Daniel, on October 20, 2007, he used his father’s key to unlock the safe and take it back, also taking his father’s handgun. Court reports stated that Daniel came up behind his parents as they were relaxing on their couch in the living room and said “Would you close your eyes, I have a surprise for you.” Daniel then proceeded to shoot both of his parents. His father said that “his head went numb and he saw blood pouring down from his skull.” Daniel shot his mother in the head, arms, and chest, killing her. In court his father testified that after Daniel shot both of his parents, he tried to make the event look like a murder-suicide by placing the gun in his father's hand whilst saying to him “Hey dad, here’s your gun. Take it,”. A few minutes later, his sister and her husband, Heidi and Andrew Archer, came over for their prior plans of watching a baseball game together. Daniel lied to them that they should not come in because their parents had been fighting. Then, they heard groaning and pushed their way through to find the aftermath of the shooting. Heidi called the police, and before they got there Daniel made an escape attempt by driving off in the family’s van with the Halo 3 game in the passenger seat. The police caught up with him and forced him out of the van via road block. While police were handcuffing him, he yelled "My Dad shot my Mom!", falsely blaming his father for killing his mother.
Petric was officially sentenced to 23 years in prison in June 2009. Since Petric was 16 years of age at the time of the murder, he was not eligible in receiving the death penalty. Petric's case has been a common subject in national journalism and politics regarding video game violence and addiction.