Three girls playing the popular game Pokémon Go found a dead body in a San Diego park on Thursday afternoon.
The girls came across the body while playing the game and looking for, Pokémon which drew them to walk along a trail at Marian Bear Memorial Park. Police told local ABC News affiliate 10 News that they believe the man was a transient, and had died of natural causes. The body may have been there about a month.
The identity of the man was not immediately known, but the body was taken to the medical examiner, according to the local news report. An autopsy is expected to determine whether he did indeed die of natural causes. The girls found the body in some bushes, according to police, who said that the girls called police from the scene and guided them to the body.
Last week a 19-year-old Wyoming girl found a body while playing the game and searching for a “water-type Pokémon.” What she found was a body floating in the Wind River. In that case, authorities believed the body had been there less than 24 hours, according to Fox 5 News.
Also in San Diego County on Thursday afternoon, two men playing the game fell off a cliff in Encinitas. The men were taken to a La Jolla trauma center after falling 50 to 90 feet.
Armed robbers have also used the game for nefarious purposes. Missouri’s O’Fallon Police Department released a statement on July 10: “Using the geolocation feature of the ‘Pokemon Go’ app the robbers were able to anticipate the location and level of seclusion of unwitting victims.”
In one case, police responded to a call around 2 a.m. for an armed robbery. They tracked down and stopped a BMW with four occupants, as described by a victim. One occupant of the vehicle tried to discard a handgun. An investigation revealed that similar attacks had occurred in neighboring counties in recent days, in which victims described a similar vehicle.
Three of those suspects, at 17 and 18 years old. were charged as adults for Robbery 1st Degree and Armed Criminal Action, and one juvenile was transported to a Juvenile Justice Center.
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