THE SUSPECT IN FREDERICTON.
Fredericton accused enjoyed video games
FREDERICTON • Friends and acquaintances of Matthew Raymond are offering varying memories of the accused murderer: A boy who retreated into video games, a pleasant co-worker, and an isolated loner in later years.
Childhood friends remember a boy who preferred to be playing video games rather than socializing with other children. However, others recall a pleasant, middle-aged co-worker who smiled as he came to work at a Fredericton supermarket.
The 48-year-old is accused of firing down upon four people from his apartment window with a long gun, killing two civilians and then two police officers who responded to the scene Friday.
Beth Hoyt, who grew up with Raymond in Fredericton, says the generally “happy and quiet boy” would come outside and play street hockey, baseball or bike riding. Still, the 46-year-old woman also recalled that Raymond’s mother was concerned that her son preferred to be back inside playing video games rather than in the fresh air.
“His mother was always saying, ‘I wish he’d get out of the basement, stop playing (video) games and do more outside’,’ she said.
Hoyt had limited contact with Raymond after she graduated from Fredericton High School but, in adulthood, Hoyt said she briefly found Raymond to be a good employee.
She hired him to assemble bicycles in a retail store, and “there was never a problem during that.”
More recently, Hoyt would pass him at a coffee shop where he was sitting talking to friends, and he would greet her in a friendly way.
Jim Whelan, Hoyt’s boyfriend, worked with Raymond at an Atlantic Superstore in Fredericton about eight years ago. He said he had generally found Raymond to be a pleasant coworker. He said Raymond had often mentioned he played video games, including Call of Duty, a first-person shooter game franchise.
Neither he nor Hoyt said they experienced discomfort around Raymond. “I’m shocked. I don’t know what happened. You wonder what is going on,” said Whelan.
The issue of video game use often emerges when media cover violent deaths, say psychologists who caution against drawing links to criminal activity.
The American Psychological Association issued a public statement in 2015 saying the existing quantitative research didn’t show a clear link between excessive viewing of violent video games and criminal violence.
Others say in more recent years there’s evidence of Raymond growing more reclusive and occasionally unpleasant.
“I’ve had issues with him, but that’s about all I want to say,” bicycle shop owner Greg Bradford said Tuesday. “It’s a touchy situation right now.”