Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of three students killed in the Heath High School shooting in 1997 . Investigations showed that the perpetrator , 14-year-old Michael Carneal , had regularly played various computer games ( including '' Doom '' , '' Quake '' , '' Castle Wolfenstein '' , '' Redneck Rampage '' , '' Nightmare Creatures '' , '' MechWarrior '' , and '' Resident Evil '' ) and accessed some pornographic websites . Carneal had also owned a videotape of '' The Basketball Diaries '' , which includes a high school student dreaming about shooting his teacher and some classmates . The suit sought $ 33 million in damages , alleging that the producers of the games , the movie , and the operators of the Internet sites were negligent in distributing this material to a minor because it would desensitize him and make him more prone to violence . Additional claims included product liability for making " defective " products ( the defects alleged were violent features and lack of warnings ) and violation of RICO , the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act , for distributing this material to minors . Said Thompson , " We intend to hurt Hollywood . We intend to hurt the video game industry . We intend to hurt the sex porn sites . " The suit was filed in federal district court and was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim . The court concluded that Carneal 's actions were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendants and that , in any case , his actions superseded those of the defendants , so the latter could not therefore be the proximate cause of the harm . In addition , the judge determined that " thoughts , ideas and images " in the defendants ' materials did not constitute " products " that could be considered defective . The ruling was upheld on appeal
Heath High School shooting
Heath High School shooting
Jack Thompson (activist)