JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A New Jersey 20-year-old man was ordered to be held without bond Thursday on charges that he flew from his home to Florida to assault another gamer.
According to Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper, Edward Kang flew from New Jersey to Fernandina Beach, bought a hammer and broke into another gamer’s house to try to kill him. What led to the confrontation is unknown.
Kang was charged with attempted second-degree murder.
This isn’t the first time that tempers escalated in the gaming community.
In 2018, three people were shot and killed, including the shooter at a gaming tournament at the Jacksonville Landing.
News4JAX spoke with gamers at First Coast eSports Alliance to learn more about the gaming culture and their goals for youth gamers to learn how to react to winning and losing battles.
Anna Stacia Leanord aspires to become a professional actress but said gaming has always been an outlet for her.
“I’ve had quite a few very rude people online telling me that I am terrible at gaming, and I should stop,” Leanord said.
Some of the gaming rooms can become tense.
“It’s just like anything, you have to pick yourself up; you’re going to lose,” she said.
At First Coast eSports Alliance, gamers also receive coaching from Sarmie along with honing their crafts.
“I don’t think it’s a gaming issue. I think it’s just a reaction to a loss or a reaction to a situation that, you know, angers you, upsets you and you aren’t able to deal with that properly. And that’s why we need to start coaching as eSports has been competitive for many years now,” Leanord said.
Sarmie was the previous owner of Ace Arena but said the pandemic shut him down, so he brought his equipment to this game room.
He thought it would be a great opportunity to grow the Jacksonville gaming community and bring the best out of the youth.
“Can you imagine Mandarin Fortnite team playing against the JAXB each Fortnite or a Murray Hill, Rocket League team playing against, you know, an Orange Park Rocket League team? Yeah, those are the types of things that we want to do,” Sarmie said.
He said they are just getting started with the possibilities.
“We’ve done events with some others like Smash and Call of Duty localized teams, but there’s nowhere for them to go and collaborate and play together. And that’s what we’re trying to build.”
Sarmie eventually hoped to see Jacksonville thrive as an eSports hub.