Police gun down teen accused of stealing PlayStation

A TEENAGER accused of robbing a student of two new PlayStation 3s on the day the game consoles were launched was shot dead by police who had been sent to arrest him.

Peyton Strickland, 18, was killed at a house he shared with three roommates in Wilmington, North Carolina.

New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey said: “If this boy would’ve come to the door, opened the door, we probably wouldn’t be talking.”

Roommate Mike Rhoton said Strickland was unarmed, but may have been holding a video game controller when he went to the door as it was bashed in by officers.

Arrest warrants alleged that Strickland, a student at Cape Fear Community College, and a University of North Carolina-Wilmington student stole two PlayStation units from another UNC-Wilmington student that day.

The sheriff said the victim had waited three days in a queue to buy two consoles at a Wal-Mart. He was unloading the units at his campus apartment when one man beat him to the ground while another took the PlayStations, Causey said.

The sheriff said Strickland was shot by members of a special police unit who went to help university officers serve warrants. He would not say why the special team was assisting.

Strickland’s dog, a German Shepherd, also was shot dead.

The State Bureau of Investigation is examining the case and three deputies on the team were placed on paid leave, Causey said.

The second man named in the warrants was arrested at another address and was later released on bail.

The introduction of the game system on November 17 was marked store stampedes. One buyer in a queue at a Connecticut store was shot by armed robbers.