Angry Gamer Goes on Shooting Spree After Competition Loss

On August 29th, 2018, China defeated Korea at the Finals of the 2018 Asian Games League of Legends e-sports demo event with a score of 3-1 to claim the gold medal. By funneling resources into the bot lane, China won through Uzi's growth. Despite Korea's desperate attempt to create an opening for a comeback, they fell short in game 4 and went home with silver medals. 

Fighting for third place was Chinese Taipei vs. Saudi Arabia, the former of which won with a score of 3-1. In game 1 of the series, Saudi Arabia won through their top lane Olaf and bot lane Syndra. But for the rest of the series, Chinese Taipei protected their pride as a major region, finishing the tournament with 3rd place. 

In the 1st set of the Finals, China had a strong start. By consistently applying pressure on Faker's Ryze, they began the series with the first kill. Although Kiin was able to secure both a kill and the first turret for Korea in the top lane, Let Me made the judgment to leave his lane to aid his team in team fights. In late game team fights, China's bot duo was able to chain their CC in every important moment, allowing Uzi's Varus to safely and reliably DPS.

Korea won the 2nd set. Korea took the early lead by killing off China's mid laner, Xiye, multiple times. Although China had the advantage in the bot lane, the outcome of the game was decided by a single teamfight. With Score's Kindred as the pivot, Korea played around China's aggression. After securing both the dragon and Baron, Korea marched down the top lane to destroy China's Nexus. 

In the 3rd set, China once again focused their resources onto the bot lane. From the beginning, the enemy team constantly had Ruler's Varus as the main target. With the aid of his jungler and even his top laner, Uzi secured multiple kills. With Xayah fed and strong, China took game 3 to lead the series 2-1.

In the 4th and final set, Korea fought hard with Faker's Orianna as the core of the team. However, in every Baron timing, Korea had their members caught out. With their Baron buff, China pushed in all three lanes and aggressively looked for fights. After destroying Korea's inhibitors one by one, China won the final team fight of the tournament to take the first gold of the Asian Games League of Legends esports back home. 

League of Legends is a popular e-sport not just in Asia but across the world. While these neighboring countries were virtually fighting one another, another e-sport fight was taking place on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, although this one was a lot more tragic.

During an NFL (American football) video game tournament at The Landing in downtown Jacksonville in Florida, one of the participants opened fired and then killed himself shortly after!!!

The games were being streamed live on Twitch when gunshots were suddenly heard:

In the video, you can actually hear someone shouting in distress: “Oh f*ck! What are you shooting with?!”

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?width=500&height=375&auto=0&vid=s1428c7qcmr

A red dot (circled) that appeared to be from a laser pointer was seen on Clayton's chest in a livestream, shortly before the camera cut streaming and gunshots and screams began to take over the scene.

When the shot was fired, a contestant quickly hid in the toilet and stormed out of the venue. He was obviously traumatized: "Everyone is crying! People are shouting! I was really scared… I’m still scared."

Anselimo's mother posted this photo from the hospital showing his backpack covered in blood stains.

Florida Governor Rick Scott (center) is seen visiting one of the wounded victims, Timothy Anselimo aka OLarry2k, in the hospital on Sunday as he recovers from being shot.

David Katz, the 24-year-old shooter from Baltimore, Maryland then turned his handgun over to himself and ended his own life at the scene, as reported by police forces, thus leaving investigators with a puzzling case as they attempt to piece together his motive for the August 26th attack.

The Madden tournament was being held at GLHF Game Bar in a pizza restaurant at the Jacksonville Landing, a downtown shopping and dining complex.

One of the competitors of Katz’s recalls beating him after a game and going for a handshake as a sign of mutual respect, but Katz stared back with a blank expression on his face.

Another witness to the shooting, Javarius Long, said that the shooter was acting in an unusual ‘nerdy' way. 

Long said that Katz got mad after losing in the elimination round on Sunday, left the venue presumably to retrieve the gun from his car, and came back and started 'blasting everybody'. 

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said that Katz "clearly targeted" other competitive gamers as he was walking past patrons in other parts of the restaurant and opened fire in a backroom.

Katz went by the gaming name of "Bread" and had won other Madden tournaments in 2017, multiple gamers told CNN. In a post-tournament interview in February 2017, Katz seemed confident, saying: “Personally, I think personally I'm by far one of the better players out there."

Elijah Clayton, 22, and Taylor Robertson, 28, were killed, and another 10 people were injured in the attack before the suspect fatally shot himself. According to police investigations, Robertson was already a young father. It is said that he participated in the competition to earn a bonus in order to support his family. As for Clayton, his family said that he was planning on saving the prizes from the e-sports competition to fund his college education.

About 150 gamers competed in the competition for a $5,000 prize. The winner was set to go on to a finals tournament in Las Vegas with a $125,000 grand prize. 

Eli 'Trueboy' Clayton, 22, of Woodland Hills, California was also killed in the shooting, friends said. He is seen above in a previous Madden tournament.

Taylor Robertson (right with wife and son) were the two people killed in Katz's suicidal shooting rampage.

If you have not noticed already, the cash flow in the e-sport industry is real and it’s growing fast. Prize pools in tournaments are getting bigger every year as more viewers and sponsors are joining in.

What was once seen as a hobby has become a serious career move and one that can pay really well for the fortunate few. Only 10 years ago, playing as a professional esport player was more about the journey and the status than the money.

Players were far from being able to live a luxurious lifestyle even as world class players, they got paid to survive. Getting money for food and rent while playing video games all day long was in itself at the time a “cool thing”.

Now, good players in the biggest teams can make some serious cash, after looking at the website esportsearnings.com you might consider a career shift and starting gaming.

Gaming, at its core, is something enjoyable that people like to have fun doing with other people. To have that community shattered at an event like this is truly heartbreaking. Thinking positively will transform not only the success you have in your game, it’ll also help you take much more enjoyment from playing it.

Why is having a positive attitude so essential? You can’t go through life expecting to lose; that simply makes you a loser. Instead, it’s much better to invest in developing a positive mental attitude. Positive thinking will bring you more opportunities, more success and will generally make you a lot more fun to be around. Recent studies have even shown that a positive attitude is tied to getting more exercise and living longer.

Source: Mail Online, INEVRN, InsDaily

Supervisor: Crystal Huang

Editor: SC

Co-editor: Ed Bellin

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