A federal lawsuit filed on Monday alleges the video game “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” triggered psychosis in a man at a Minnesota mental health facility who then fatally attacked a Minnesota National Guard veteran, according to court records.
Abshir Mohamed Hussein filed the lawsuit as trustee for the next of kin of Abdirashi Hussein, who court records said was killed on New Year’s Eve in 2023. It names the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which at the time oversaw the Forensic Mental Health Program in St. Peter, and five staff members employed by the state agency during that period.
According to the complaint, Abdirashi Hussein had a “history of significant mental illness” and was brought involuntarily to the Forensic Mental Health Program in 2020. He was moved to the facility’s North Campus in 2022 where he would be roommates with David Otey. The North Campus is considered an “unsecure” part of the facility and houses people who have made “sufficient progress to be on track to be transitioned back to the community.”
In January 2018, Otey was “in a delusional state and responding to internal stimuli” when he fatally stabbed his sister, the lawsuit said. He was found not guilty by reason of mental illness the next year, according to the court document, and in 2020, was committed as mentally ill and dangerous to the facility.
Otey in September 2022 was making “significant progress” in his treatment and moved to the North Campus, the lawsuit said. From November 2022 through December 2023, Otey was identified as having “signature risk signs,” including isolating, expressing delusional thinking and becoming irritable.
According to the court document, Otey was approved for pass-eligible status in September 2023, allowing him to temporarily leave the facility for trips into the community. Court records show members of his family, in fear of their safety, filed for harassment restraining orders. The filings, the complaint said, caused Otey’s anxiety to increase, and made him lose sleep and miss work at the campus.
On the night Abdirashi Hussein was killed, Otey was playing “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” in the activity room, the complaint said. The game’s main character wields a weapon to “bludgeon and murder” other characters in a “life-like manner.”
The lawsuit said that policy from the state prohibits patients at the facility from playing “criminogenic-themed video games,” including first-person shooter games. The North Campus allegedly had an activity room with a gaming console that had games with violent themes.
“As he was playing ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,’ Otey later reported that he heard his ex-wife’s maiden name, which was similar to Hussein’s last name,” the lawsuit said.
Otey became disoriented and confused, according to the complaint. He then walked into the room he shared with Abdirashi Hussein and heard a voice in his head tell him, “Hey, grab that guitar.”
Otey grabbed a guitar and “swung it like an ax,” repeatedly hitting Abdirashi Hussein, the lawsuit said. He then choked Abdirashi Hussein with the guitar strap and went to the front desk of the North Campus, where he told staff members they should go check on his roommate.
According to the complaint, Otey was taken to Nicollet County Jail, where he continued to show psychotic and aggressive behaviors. He was charged with one count each of second-degree murder and second-degree assault. In June 2024, a judge found him not guilty by reason of mental illness.
The lawsuit said the staff members named in the court document failed to stop him from playing the video game and that three of them violated the 14th Amendment, which says states should not “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The staff members knew Otey posed a substantial risk of serious harm to other residents and “failed to take reasonable measures to protect” Abdirashi Hussein, according to the complaint, which also claims wrongful death through negligence.
Minnesota Direct Care and Treatments is the agency that runs the facility. It said it’s reviewing the lawsuit. CEO Marshal Smith said in a statement to WCCO:
“The loss of Abdi Hussein was a terrible tragedy that left his friends, family, and partners in treatment heartbroken. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his closest loved ones.”
Abshir Mohamed Hussin is asking the court to award him at least $1 million in compensation.
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