Video game freak from New Jersey flies overnight to Florida just to attack online competitors with hammer: police

Game over.

A New Jersey man was so angry while playing an online video game that he flew to Florida in the middle of the night to beat his rival with a hammer, authorities said.

Edward Kang, 20, reportedly took an overnight flight from Newark Liberty International Airport, landed at Jacksonville International Airport and booked a hotel room – before showing up at the victim’s home at 2 a.m. Sunday with a hammer, officials said.

“This is a strange thing,” Nassau County, Florida, Sheriff Bill Leeper said at a meeting Monday.

“Some things you have to say hmm. Some things you just can’t make up,” Leeper told reporters. “Some things you say, ‘What on earth was he thinking?’ And some things you say, ‘You’re not going to believe this.'”

“Well, this case forces us to make all four of those statements,” Leeper said.

The sheriff said Kang became angry at the victim while playing the multiplayer game ArcheAge – and was so upset that he told his mother he was going to visit a friend in the Sunshine State and disappeared.

He checked into a Florida hotel at 2 a.m. Friday and stopped at an Ace Hardware outlet the next day to buy a hammer and flashlight, Leeper said.

Early Sunday morning, dressed in black, wearing a mask and gloves, he sneaked into the victim’s home in Fernandina Beach and attacked his rival with a hammer, he said.

“The victim’s stepfather reported that he woke up to cries for help,” he said. “When he went to see what was going on, he found his stepson lying on the floor, struggling with the attacker, who was carrying a hammer.”

Leeper said the two held Kang until police arrived.

He said the victim suffered serious but non-life-threatening head injuries, while Kang is being held in the Nassau County Jail on $15,000 bail on charges of attempted murder and burglary.

The sheriff said Kang was not cooperating with police.

“When the suspect was asked why he did this, he said he was a bad person online talking about the victim,” Leeper said. “Additionally, the suspect asked our deputy how long you go to jail for burglary and assault.”

“I would say, Mr. Kang, it will be a long time before you play video games again.”