PS3 shooter busted, victim selling on eBay

Earlier this month, the hype for the PlayStation 3 launch was accompanied by several reported crimes, the most serious of which was the shooting of a man during a botched hold-up outside a Putnam, Connecticut, Wal-Mart.

The Associated Press today is reporting that police have made an arrest in the case and have a warrant for a second. A 20-year-old man from nearby Woodstock, Connecticut, was arrested early this morning on multiple charges, including attempted murder and robbery. However, police have yet to catch the man's suspected 17-year-old accomplice.

As for the victim, the AP reports that the 21-year-old Webster, Massachusetts, resident Michael Penkala is recovering from the wounds he sustained after refusing to give up a wallet with more than $2,500 in cash to the gunmen.

According to an article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Penkala was struck by a shotgun blast to the chest after refusing to hand over his wallet and telling the assailants he had called 911. The gunmen ran, and Penkala was brought into the store's lobby, where he told employees to take the wallet and give it to his friends in line so they could continue waiting for the PS3s.

"For some reason I wasn't thinking about my wound, I was all about those PlayStations," Penkala told the paper.

Penkala had enlisted three friends to wait in line with him, and the group was first through fourth in the line. Penkala picked up his PS3s from the store on Saturday, with Wal-Mart picking up the tab for one of them. Penkala told the paper his only interest in the systems was to sell them for a profit on eBay.

Regardless of the sum he gets for the systems, the entire ordeal seems certain to be a net loss for Penkala. He told the paper that he has no health insurance and is expecting his hospital bills to total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A "Michael Penkala Fund" has been established to help pay for his medical treatment at the Commerce Bank, 25 Worcester Road, Webster, MA 01570.