New Jersey Man Allegedly Flies to Florida to Attack Fellow Gamer With A Hammer
This is just beyond crazy. This man from New Jersey is facing attempted murder charges after allegedly flying to Florida to attack a fellow gamer.
His name is Edward Kang, 20, and he was playing a game with the victim called ArcheAge, which is a medieval fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
Kang and the victim, another young man around the same age as Kang, had never met in real life, but the game’s publisher said it would shut down its servers in Europe and North America today following the incident.
He showed up at this guy’s house with a hammer. “I just want to let you know, this is a weird one,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said during a press conference on Monday. “Some things you just can’t make up.”
So What Went Down?
Kang flew from Newark, New Jersey, to Jacksonville, Florida, last Thursday. He told his mother that he was going to visit a friend that he had met while playing a video game, officials said. There is no word on how Kang got the information on where the victim lives.
Once landing in Florida Kang took an Uber to a hotel in Fernandina Beach, which is 35 miles north of Jacksonville, and then bought a hammer at a local hardware store, police said.
This is where the story goes crazy. Kang went to the victim’s home, and it was unlocked, around 2 a.m. Sunday. The victim was walking out of his bedroom when Kang approached him. This dude hit him on the head with the hammer, officials said. The two struggled as the victim called for help. His stepfather jumped in and helped to get Kang under control until police arrived.
The poor victim suffered head wounds that were not considered life-threatening. He received staples at the hospital. Once questioned, Kang told investigators that the victim was a “bad person online,” and asked how much time he is looking at. Mr. Kang is looking at charges of attempted second-degree murder and armed burglary with a mask, and police said “I would say, Mr. Kang, it’s going to be a long time before you play video games again.”