In case you missed the news earlier today, German teenager Tim Kretschmer went on a shooting rampage. Killed fifteen people. And already, attempts are being made to link the atrocity to gaming.

The Associated Press report on the shootings - which will be the same one run in countless newspapers/websites across the world - sadly tries to slip in a link between Kretschmer's playing of Counter-Strike and the murders.

A 17-year-old who would give only his first name, Aki, said he had been studying this year with the shooter at a private business school, and described him as a quiet, reserved person.

Aki said the two played poker together, both in person and online, as well as a multiplayer video game called "Counter-Strike" that involves killing people to complete missions.

"He was good," Aki said.

They're not BLAMING the attacks on Counter-Strike. Far from it. But why describe Counter-Strike like that, if not to try and drum up or somehow prey upon people's ignorance? Really, AP, we'd expect better from the likes of you.

Teen kills 15 in Germany before taking own life [Associated Press, via GamePolitics]

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