More robberies plague PS3 launch

November 18th, 2006, 00:29 Posted By: wraggster

Reports of PlayStation 3 launch-related crimes are mounting, as two more robberies related to the debut of Sony's next-generation console have surfaced.

Two men armed with handguns stole five PS3s from an Ohio EB Games store, Englewood Police Department Detective Alan Meade confirmed for GameSpot today. Meade said the two men entered the store around 9 p.m. Thursday night as a pair of employees were closing up and ordered them into the back storeroom. The robbers took the systems and left the store without incident.

Meade said there were no other reports of PS3-related crimes in Englewood, but that the incident has prompted the department to make preparations to prevent a repeat of the incident when the Nintendo Wii goes on sale this Sunday.

"We will certainly be keeping an extra watch on the places that will be selling these systems," Meade said.

A second incident also emerged from Connecticut, where a man waiting in line for the PS3 was shot and hospitalized last night by two men armed with guns. This morning, a man leaving the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester was mugged by multiple assailants in the parking lot, according to Manchester Police Department Sergeant Chris Davis.

Davis said one of the criminals had been in the mall's EB Games when the victim purchased his PS3, then called his friends in the parking lot, who approached the man on his way to his car. In all, "four or five" men pushed the victim to the ground, grabbed the system, and fled in a nearby car. However, Davis said one of the suspects was pushed out of the car as it was leaving the scene; police apprehended him and are working to catch the rest.

The victim posted his account of the incident on Sony Computer Entertainment America's official message boards, and made a plea for someone with an extra system to offer it to him at a reasonable price.

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