FBI wants would-be assassin's game records

THE FBI has swooped on the online game Earth Empires after the Wall Street Journal revealed that Jared Loughner, who shot a US Representative, killed a US federal judge and five others and wounded 14, had made some revealing posts about himself on the website.

David McVittie, the administrator of Earth Empires said he was contacted by the FBI, which requested the files, including 131 messages that Loughner wrote.

McVittie said he might make the files available to the public after he releases them to federal authorities.

According to the WSJ, McVittie said the posts create a picture of a disturbed misogynist young man who wrote about rape and suicide. He often surprised other gamers with his incoherent rants and provocative questions.

These included questions like "would you hit a handicapped child?"

Among the postings is one in which Loughner appears to compare the possibility of prison or suicide with having a career or a job.

None of the posts mentions his potential targets or signs that Loughner planned the attack. He talks of frustrations about losing his job, battling with authorities at his college and being turned down by women. Loughner asks if everyone feels aggressive all the time.

McVittie said the game had also seen two suicides of its members over the years, which provoked similar questioning.

He wondered if there was anything an online community could do to help, the Wall Street Journal said. µ