18-year-old Guatemala teen is 1st Pokemon Go fatality

Although global rage game Pokemon Go has been credited with bringing kids outside the house for some physical activity, the downside of the game such as being addictive could outweigh the benefitThe game has caused the death of a Guatemalan teen which makes a 15-year-old fatwa against Pokemon by Saudi Arabia sound not ridiculous as some of their fatwas are, but reasonable.

The New York Post identifies the fatality as 18-year-old Jerson Lopez de Leon. He was shot dead when he and 17-year-old cousin Daniel Moises Picen broke into a house in Chiquimula to catch one of the virtual animals, reports Mirror. Picen was wounded.

Rosalinda de Leon, the victim’s mother, recalls, “He was already in bed when his cousin sent him a message asking him to go out and download a game a few blocks from the house,” quotes The Independent.

Guatemalan police are looking for the occupants of an agricultural van that was seen fleeing the crime scene. Authorities found 20 shell casings on the scene.

However, there is a conflicting report that the two Guatemalan teens were walking along the street in Chiquimila and killed in an ambush while hunting for Pokemon Go characters.

Given the crazy things that players would do to catch the cartoon characters, the top clerical body of Saudi Arabia renewed on Wednesday a fatwa, or religious edict, against Pokemon, reports Reuters. The General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars actually just revived a 2001 decree it issued against a Pokemon card game, not against Pokemon Go.

The fatwa was issued 15 years ago in response to questions for Islam followers. In banning the card game, the council explains that mutations of the creatures in the card game, which have specific powers, is blasphemy because it promotes the theory of natural evolution.

The council also cited other elements in the game banned by Islam such as multiplication of the number of deities or polytheism against God, and the use of symbols which promoted the Shinto religion in Japan, Christianity, Freemasonry and global Zionism.

VIDEO: Saudi Clerics Renew Fatwa against Pokemon

Source: NewsBeat Social