A 60-year-old grandfather was shot and killed by a security guard in Virginia last Thursday while playing “Pokemon Go,” according to local news reports.
According to the account given by the victim’s family attorney Greg Sandler, victim Jiansheng Chen was shot by a security guard while sitting in his van parked outside a Chesapeake community center a mile from Chen’s home. Chen was reportedly playing “Pokemon Go” on his phone in the van, and Sandler said he was in the area because the community center was tagged as a Pokemon gym in the game.
Chen had reportedly started to play the game so he could catch Pokemon with his children and grandchildren.
“The information that we have seen at the van and learned from a couple of people who either saw or heard various parts of this indicated that the security person was standing in front of the van and fired somewhere between five and 10 shots directly through the driver’s front windshield of the van,” Sandler told NBC News. “Mr. Chen was killed instantly.”
Police said that no charges have been filed, but there is an ongoing investigation. It is still not known what caused the altercation between Chen and the security guard, though Sandler said Chen did not speak fluent English. No weapons were found in Chen’s possession.