Violent video games may have primed the Parkland school shooter

“Die, die, die,” the Parkland school shooter wrote in a story for language arts class in middle school. His explanation: It was a line from his “Call of Duty” warfare video game booklet.

Teachers were concerned that he was spending too much time playing “inappropriate” video games — as much as 15 hours a day, some neighbors told investigators. His mother struggled to limit his playing time, believing it was a source of his hostility at home.

The role of video games in the shooter’s life has not been closely examined publicly, but some details have emerged in school records and documents filed in the court system in wrongful death suits related to the murders of 17 staff and students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.

One contention is that mental health professionals, working for Henderson Behavioral Health, did not properly diagnose or treat Nikolas Cruz and, actually, provided therapies that aggravated his condition. The allegations included having him sign personal contracts that included playing violent video games as a form of anger management.

Henderson has denied it bears any legal responsibility for the murders. It has asked Broward Circuit Court Judge Patti Englander Henning to throw out the lawsuits filed against it. She is expected to rule Tuesday.

Video games and killing

Cruz, now 20, faces the death penalty if convicted of the murders. It’s unclear what role, if any, video games will play in his bid to escape execution.

Because mass shootings are relatively rare, there is no scientific evidence linking them to violent video games. But decades of research shows there is a link between the games and an increase in aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviors in children, said Lauren Caldwell of the American Psychological Association.

“Aggression” can take many forms, from name calling to pushing, shoving and even excluding people.

Over nine years, Cruz received hundreds of hours of therapy sessions from Henderson, according to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public High School Commission, which examined systemic failures leading to the shooting.

Henderson Behavioral Health, Broward’s largest mental health organization, provided Cruz and his mom with family counseling, case management and crisis services. He also saw school therapists, a therapist from Camelot Community Care and private psychiatrists.

Rather than let him hit walls, Henderson workers provided Cruz with a punching bag and suggested that he hit pillows instead, the Borges suit states. In addition, as part of his “anger management” therapy — one Henderson professional recommended that his mother get him his own Xbox Live account. Sharing an account with his brother upset him.

In the winter of 2014, a Henderson professional “made Cruz sign contracts actually agreeing to play violent video games as an anger management technique when he got upset,” the lawsuit alleges.

Such therapeutic contracts, generally, can lay out rewards and consequences to help people control certain behaviors and make them more aware of their choices.

Henderson’s use of video games as an anger management tool was an “unmitigated disaster,” the Borges suit contends.