Woman shot while “playing Pokémon Go” didn’t have a phone

Ask anyone who gets their news from local TV: Pokémon Go is dangerous. You can’t let your kids play that game, because they might get hurt. It’s like stranger-danger, but with adorable creatures to catch.

Well, last night a shooting victim in Greshem, Oregon, just outside Portland, claimed she was shot while playing the game. Cue the standard local media reaction, right?

Well, there’s a hiccup this time.

“She didn’t have a phone,” said police spokesperson Adam Baker told The Oregonian.

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I speak from experience: it’s really hard to play Pokémon go without a phone. Impossible, some might say.

And it seems like the Pokémon claims weren’t the only weird thing here. The victim gave officers a fake name, and was generally “not very forthcoming with the truth” according to Baker.

Police are still investigating the shooting, so maybe this really was a matter of Poké-danger. Regardless, we hope the victim recovers. Police say she is likely to survive.

But we really wish the “Pokémon Go is dangerous” narrative would die off. Playing this game is no more dangerous than going outside for any other reason, provided you pay attention as you wander.