Video game rage leads to arrests of 2 young men

“Gamer rage” isn’t just a slang term, it’s a real psychotic break that happens to video gamers, as documented by the American Psychological Association in a 2023 dissertation. 

Maricopa police arrested two raging gamers back-to-back Tuesday night — one destroyed his mom’s house, and the other used refried beans as a weapon and threatened to sic a girl gang on his sister, according to police reports. 

This just two weeks after another man’s video game-fueled anger led to his arrest on charges of assault, reckless display of a firearm, preventing use of phone in an emergency and disorderly conduct.  

Cops arrested 18-year-old Carlos J. Brizuela at his Desert Passage home Tuesday on domestic violence charges of assault and threatening, and two counts of disorderly conduct, according to a probable cause statement. 

Police responded to the home on North Clarence Lane at 8:45 p.m. and found Brizuela’s child sister upset. She said her brother was engrossed in a video game session when he decided to hurl an open can of refried beans at her bedroom door. 

Their mother witnessed Brizuela get physical with his sister and showed cops a text message Brizuela sent her stating, “if a girl comes to beat up your daughter, you know why.”  

Brizuela admitted he wanted to hurt his sister and threatened to find girls to “jump” her. He was arrested around 9:30 p.m. and booked into the Pinal County jail where he faces a year and a half behind bars. 

Cops arrested another aggro gamer in Tortosa a few hours later, accused of ransacking his mother’s house. 

Brenden G. Umberger, 24, was arrested on two domestic violence counts of criminal damage and disorderly conduct. 

Police responded to the home on West Velazquez Drive after Umberger’s brother reported the disturbance. Officers found three upstairs doors ripped off their hinges, broken in half and thrown down the stairs, a shattered glass shelf, shattered sliding glass doors, walls with holes punched in them, a shattered TV and other damaged items. 

Police estimated the damage at about $3,000. 

Umberger told officers he was playing video games upstairs when he got mad and started punching a wall. Police noted he had fresh injuries to his arms, wrist, knuckles, and feet. 

Police arrested Umberger and booked him into the Pinal County jail, where he faces a year and a half.