EPTI know you guys don't really care about Madden, but it's getting to be a pretty big e-sport, especially in the USA. A lot of pro-esports teams have Madden players (Luminosity, Complexity, SK, etc.)
Anyway, I just wanted to talk about a crazy situation I was involved in.
First of all, for those that dont know me, my name's Derek aka DJONES. I'm a professional Madden player.
On Aug 26, 2018 I was at a tournament in Jacksonville Florida, at a game bar called GLHF Gamebar. I was out back watching one of the games on the TV, when I heard POP POP POP POP POP and people screaming inside. After about the 3rd pop, I realized they were gunshots, dropped all my stuff...hopped the fence right there and took off running as fast as I could.
Another young man was running with me, and after a while we stopped to catch our breath completely in shock about what had just happened.
Shortly after, we saw some of the other players come running our way. We grouped together, and started scanning the area for anyone suspicious because we didn't know who or where the shooter was.
Apparently this guy David Katz aka slicedbread lost his game, grabbed a gun and just came in shooting. The scary part is, people told me he was inside asking for where DJONES is at. If I wasn't outside, I could easily be dead right now, because apparently he was targeting certain players (I heard he asked for Kiv too). He wound up killing Taylor Robertson aka 'Spotmeplz' and Eli Clayton aka 'Trueboy', and injuring a bunch of other people before shooting himself. I wasn't really friends with those guys, but I knew them...and they didn't deserve to die for just trying to win some money for themselves and their families.
About 5 minutes later, we hear the sirens get close, and we wait a few more minutes before heading back towards the police/scene. I walk past the scene, and I see a body laying in the doorway about 5 feet from where I was sitting, apparently that was slicedbread. He probably came outside looking for me, saw I wasn't there and offed himself.
The cops/SWAT were there closing off the scene, and moving everyone into a secure location. We get inside this convention center, and everyone is terrified. The police are in there still trying to figure out what exactly went on.
That morning before the tournament, I made a tweet saying "I am in the mood to kill someone today". Maybe I should've put the 🎮 emoji, because I just meant on the sticks. I would never do anything like that, I'm like the chillest dude there is if you come at me the right way.
Someone saw my tweet, retweeted it...and it would up going viral and blowing up all over. They basically plastered my face all over the news saying I was the shooter. Because of this, the cops had to treat me as a suspect in the shooting. I was handcuffed, placed in the back of a police car and left there for about an hour and a half. After a while, they drove me down to the police station and threw me in interrogation.
I was in the interrogation room, and I hear the detectives and officers whispering outside "Ya we think this is the guy", "This is the primary suspect" etc.
I'm sitting in there thinking I didn't do shit, I just had to run for my life...this is fucking crazy. I knocked on the door, and politely asked if I could speak to the detectives asap so we could get everything cleared up. I told them I didn't need an attorney, and that I was willing to cooperate in any way they needed. I spoke with the detectives for about an hour, and they could tell I was not involved, and had me released.
Got a ride back to my hotel (the officer even bought me Taco Bell 😋). I walk around a little bit, and everywhere I go I am getting scared looks from people. The national media basically slandered my name, then when it was revealed someone else was the shooter, they just moved on and didn't bother to apologize or issue a retraction. I thought that was messed up. I had to call a local news station and have them interview me so everyone could hear my side of the story, because I was being treated like a criminal...even though I was a victim just like everyone else who was at the tournament.
Then, everywhere I go people are acting like I'm some cool guy or celebrity because I was on TV. I'm thinking to myself, I don't even want this kind of attention. If I get attention, I want it to be for winning tournaments or doing something good. Not for some innocent people getting gunned down in cold blood. Spotme was a nice country guy who just had a kid, there is no way he did anything to deserve what happened. Trueboy wasn't really my friend, but we talked before and he seemed like a good kid. They didn't deserve to die. If there's any positive to be taken from all this: At least they died doing something they love, and I think it's actually going to bring the Madden and gaming communities closer together.
Anyway thanks for reading. Have a nice day ✌️
