‘He was a bad man online’: N.J. man flew to Florida to kill fellow gamer after dispute

A New Jersey man has been charged with attempted murder after investigators said he flew to Florida and assaulted a man with a hammer after the two got into a dispute over a video game, according to WJAX-TV.

Edward Kang, 20, was arrested Sunday morning after police said he broke into the Fernandina Beach, Florida, home of the victim to “confront a player he met in a video game,” Nassau County Sherriff Bill Leeper said in a news conference on Monday.

According to Leeper, the two had never met in person. Instead, they met through the online roleplaying video game ArcheAge.

“This is a weird one,” Leeper said on Monday.

According to arrest documents, after Kang flew to Florida, he allegedly broke into the victim’s home late Saturday evening or Sunday morning. When the victim got up to take a break from gaming and use the bathroom, Kang confronted him, “standing with a hammer raised in the air,” police said.

The victim was struck in the head several times, suffering what Leeper describes as “severe, but non-life-threatening wounds,” The New York Times reported.

The man was not named in court records.

The victim’s stepfather heard his stepson scream and call for help, Leeper said. He helped to disarm and subdue Kang, police said.

Kang was booked into the Nassau County (Florida) Jail, where he was charged with armed burglary and attempted second-degree murder.

When Kang was asked why he was in the home and hitting the man with a hammer, according to booking records he said the man “was a bad person online.”

ArcheAge is a Korean-developed massive multiplayer online role-playing game. It is slated to shut down on Thursday due to a steadily declining active user base.

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