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Florida player injured in hammer attack: press conference
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper provides update after saying a player flew to Florida from New Jersey, sneaked into another player’s house and attacked him at middle of the night with a hammer.
FERNANDINA BEACH, Florida. – An online altercation led to actual murder charges after deputies say a New Jersey man flew to Florida, sneaked into the home of a person he met online and had attacked with a hammer in the middle of the night.
“It’s bizarre,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said at a news conference. “Some things make you go hmmm. Some things you just can’t make up. There are some things that make you go, ‘What was he thinking?’ There are some things that make you say, “You’re not going to believe that.” Well, this case makes you say all four.
Sheriff Leeper says Edward Kang, 20, jumped on a plane from Newark, New Jersey, to Jacksonville, Florida, Friday night.
Upon landing, Leeper said, Kang grabbed an Uber and checked into a Fernandina Beach hotel around 2 a.m. Saturday.
Leeper said Kang went to an area hardware store and purchased a hammer and a flashlight.
Around 2 a.m. Sunday, armed with his new hammer, Kang entered the home of a gamer he met online through an unlocked door without the victim’s knowledge, according to the sheriff.
Leeper said the victim was playing video games late Saturday night, into Sunday morning, and took a break to go to the bathroom.
“Once he opened the door, he noticed the suspect standing with a hammer raised in the air in an anticipated strike position,” Leeper said. “The suspect wore black, gloves and a mask.”
The sheriff said the suspect and victim were struggling and the victim pushed the suspect to the ground.
Sheriff Leeper said Kang purchased a hammer in Florida before the attack. Image courtesy of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.
He added that while the two were fighting, the victim’s stepfather woke up to screaming. When he saw what was happening, he and his stepson disarmed Kang and detained him until deputies arrived.
“He broke into the victim’s home late at night to, what we believe, kill the victim,” Leeper said.
Kang and the victim were taken to an area hospital to receive medical treatment.
Authorities said once Kang was treated and released, he was taken into custody.
When the suspect was asked why he did what he did, he responded, “He’s a bad person online.”
Although the sheriff noted Kang was not cooperating with investigators and requested an attorney, he said Kang asked a deputy how much time do you have for breaking and entering and assault.
Investigators say Edward Kang flew from New Jersey to Florida and attacked a gambler he met online with a hammer. Image courtesy of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.
“I would say, Mr. Kang, that it will be a long time before you play video games again,” Leeper said.
Leeper added that he wasn’t exactly sure what happened between Kang and the victim, but said the two men, who had never met in real life before the hammer attack , had had some sort of altercation online.
“Apparently in this video game you can name characters, you can fight other characters and kill them, and I don’t know what happened between the victim and the suspect, but something made me want to suspect to come to Florida and hurt the individual,” Leeper said.
Leeper said he did not know how old the victim was, but told reporters he was about the same age as the suspect.
He said the victim suffered non-life-threatening head injuries in the attack and was released from hospital.
Kang was charged with second-degree murder, but Leeper said more charges could be filed.
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