FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Southwest Florida gamers are mourning after several people were injured and two killed at a Jacksonville video game tournament.
Support for the victims continued to pour in from all over the country, Monday, particularly from the video gaming community. Avid Southwest Florida gamers like Jarrod Neubert tell 4 In Your Corner video gaming is about more than graphics and consoles. "Gaming has always been a really big part of friendships," he said. "It's all about connecting people, whether it's by playing together cooperatively or in a competitive sense."
Neubert has attended video game tournaments before. Many like the weekend's Madden tournament in Jacksonville are live-streamed for players all over the country to enjoy. During a live-stream of Sunday's game-play, shots were heard. Neubert said the incident was completely unexpected. "Until yesterday, it never crossed my mind. I mean, obviously it can happen anywhere at anytime," he said. "But every place I've ever been to for something like that, everyone has always been so inviting and warm to one another. Even when you lose, it's just for the love of the game."
Neubert expressed sadness for the victims. "It felt like he [the shooter] maybe wasn't quite grasping what a lot of these tournaments are about," he said. "We're playing for these different experiences that maybe we're not able to get in real life, and then we can share these experiences with different people and get their different perspectives on it."
Investigators have not released a motive for Sunday's shooting.
