PS3 Death Toll Rises

Peyton Brooks Strickland (18) was shot and killed as he was served with a search warrant at his campus apartment in Wilimington, North Carolina, USA on Friday. Strickland was allegedly involved in the assault of University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) student Justin Raines (20) during the theft of two new PS3 units.

According to the university, “The investigation of an armed robbery that occurred Nov. 17, 2006 on the UNC Wilmington campus led to arrest warrants being issued for UNCW student Ryan David Mills, 20, of 4500 Crawdad Court, Wilmington, and a second suspect, Peyton Brooks Strickland, 18, of 417 Brighton Road, Durham. A search warrant was also issued for 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive in Wilmington.

"The warrants charged Mills and Strickland with armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and breaking and entering of a vehicle for the November 17th assault and robbery of UNCW student Justin Raines , who was robbed of two Sony Playstation 3s he had purchased at WalMart.

"When Raines came home to the on-campus Seahawk Village apartments after midnight with the games he bought for $641 apiece, two white men in a gold Pontiac pulled up to Raines' car, struck him with a six-inch blunt object and stole his purchases, leaving him with bumps and bruises, UNCW police said.”

Strickland's housemates said that he was unarmed and going to the door as the police forced it open. He may have been holding a PS3 controller as police entered the property. A sheriff's deputy proceeded to shoot him and his German Shepherd, called Blaze.

New Hanover County Sheriff, Sid Causey, lead the team that raided the house on 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive. He did so at the request of UNCW Police, Chief David Donaldson.

According to the local newspaper, The Star News:

“Investigators were reviewing the conduct of all officers and deputies involved in the incident, said New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David, who confirmed at least one sheriff's deputy was involved in the shooting.

"I am making this my top priority," David said Saturday. "No one's above the law. If there's any criminal conduct that can be established, I'm not going to hesitate to treat them as any other defendant."

Neither he nor Sheriff Sid Causey would release any information on who was present at the time of the shooting or details about why or how it happened. The State Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the investigation, they said.”