Teen stabs brother to death over videogame dispute

It’s a sad state of affairs when something so trivial as a mere argument over a videogame can degenerate into something much, much worse. Unfortunately, this is the case with 16-year-old Antwan Ricks, the young man dying of a single stab wound to the chest inflicted by his younger brother, 13-year-old Jahmir Ricks, in what appears to be a dispute over who gets to play next, last Sunday.

So what really happened? As it turns out, Jahmir had beaten his older brother in a videogame, and the latter refused to pass the controller to someone else – thus breaking a house rule of giving someone else a chance to play after you’ve lost in a match.

Things got real ugly real fast, with the dispute turning into a heated argument, then into a full-on brawl – and then into murder, as Jahmir stabbed his older brother in the chest with a steak knife.

The police were called in immediately after the incident, arriving a few minutes before 1 p.m. Jahmir was immediately apprehended, cuffed and put in the back of a police car – and it’s to note that there was no struggle reported. It also seemed that Jahmir was fully aware of what he had done, saying “I just stabbed my brother,” to the policemen who arrived. His brother, Antwan, was pronounced dead at the Delaware County Memorial Hospital, 20 minutes after the arrest was made, with the cause of death being a single stab wound in the chest.

Charged with first degree murder, third-degree murder, aggravated and simple assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and possession of instruments of crime – Jahmir is now being held in the county prison without bail, waiting on a pending hearing Magisterial District Judge John J. Perfetti.

Truly a very shocking incident, from a county that’s relatively peaceful – as Antwan’s death marks the borough’s first homicide for 2007, and putting Delaware’s toll to 25. Updates as we get them.

It’s a sad state of affairs when something so trivial as a mere argument over a videogame can degenerate into something much, much worse. Unfortunately, this is the case with 16-year-old Antwan Ricks, the young man dying of a single stab wound to the chest inflicted by his younger brother, 13-year-old Jahmir Ricks, in what appears to be a dispute over who gets to play next, last Sunday.

So what really happened? As it turns out, Jahmir had beaten his older brother in a videogame, and the latter refused to pass the controller to someone else – thus breaking a house rule of giving someone else a chance to play after you’ve lost in a match.

Things got real ugly real fast, with the dispute turning into a heated argument, then into a full-on brawl – and then into murder, as Jahmir stabbed his older brother in the chest with a steak knife.

The police were called in immediately after the incident, arriving a few minutes before 1 p.m. Jahmir was immediately apprehended, cuffed and put in the back of a police car – and it’s to note that there was no struggle reported. It also seemed that Jahmir was fully aware of what he had done, saying “I just stabbed my brother,” to the policemen who arrived. His brother, Antwan, was pronounced dead at the Delaware County Memorial Hospital, 20 minutes after the arrest was made, with the cause of death being a single stab wound in the chest.

Charged with first degree murder, third-degree murder, aggravated and simple assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and possession of instruments of crime – Jahmir is now being held in the county prison without bail, waiting on a pending hearing Magisterial District Judge John J. Perfetti.

Truly a very shocking incident, from a county that’s relatively peaceful – as Antwan’s death marks the borough’s first homicide for 2007, and putting Delaware’s toll to 25. Updates as we get them.