Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘I didn’t think it was a gun ... then I see the laser beam’
S. Florida victim of Jacksonville mass shooting describes terror
As Darren Crews lay wounded on the floor of a Jacksonville pizza restaurant, the video game competitor had a decision to make: continue hiding beneath a table from a gunman who killed two gamers and wounded nine others, or run through a door held open by the body of one of the dead.
Crews, 31, of Pembroke Pines, had made it through the first round of a Madden NFL 19 Xbox competition for a $5,000 prize on Sunday afternoon. He was watching the “main event game” between the two best players of the round to see what he could learn.
“And I just heard a loud noise, I wasn’t quite sure what it was at first,” said Crews. “I didn’t think it was a gun at first until I actually saw it. I just seen a silhouette, a white guy
with a hoodie on. And then I see the fire and the laser beam.”
A bullet tore through his left bicep.
“Once I seen it, I felt my arm get hit and that’s when I took off,” Crews said. “I ran, and I tried to get cover. I ended up actually laying down behind a couple of people. There was a bunch of people piled up.”
He said during the chaos, he saw “people tumbling over everybody, trampling over people. It was crazy.”
On Sunday, there was a crowd, a “64-man playoff ” happening until around 1 p.m., when the gunfire began, Crews said.
Crews said he didn’t believe he was targeted by the gunman, David Bennett Katz, who he had seen play but had never spoken with or competed against.
“I don’t know if he was shooting at me or what the case was,” Crews said. “I’m not sure. He was just shooting. I don’t think he said anything.”
Crews said in past competitions, he had played against the two men who were killed Sunday, and had lost to both of them: Taylor Robertson, 28, of Giles,
West Virginia, and Elijah Clayton, 22, of Woodland, Calif.
He said they were friends, both good men who didn’t deserve to die.
While huddling behind a table with other terrified gamers, Crews estimated that the gunman was about 10 feet away.
“I can’t say how many times he fired,” Crews said. “I couldn’t see his feet. I had my eyes closed, so I couldn’t see him.”
After laying there for a few seconds that seemed much longer, daylight and safety beckoned from the open back door. Crews and and others ran through it while bullets were still flying.
He said he couldn’t believe he was shot, or that he experienced a mass shooting.
“I just never thought something like that would happen,” Crews said. “I never thought I’d be a part of something like that.”
And he said a gaming competition, which welcomes all kinds of people and players with varying skills, is not a place for bloodshed, “especially when you’re trying to do something you love to do. It’s traumatic. Nobody should have to go through it. We came to compete and have a good time.”
Once outside the restaurant, he reunited with four buddies who had driven north with him from Broward County and had escaped injury by hiding in a bathroom.
After talking with a police officer, Crews’ friend drove him to a hospital for treatment of his gunshot wound.
Surveillance video from inside the Chicago Pizza & Sports Grille restaurant at the Jacksonville Landing mall in downtown Jacksonville showed Katz, 24, was the lone shooter who killed himself after taking aim at other competitors.
Katz, of Baltimore, carried two handguns and extra ammunition into the restaurant. Investigators believe he fired only one weapon, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said.
“The suspect clearly targeted other gamers who were in a back room of Chicago Pizza participating in this gaming tournament,” Williams said Monday.
“The suspect walked past patrons who were in other parts of the business and focused his attention on the gamers.”
Katz was treated for
mental illness when he was an adolescent, according to the Associated Press.
The handguns, a .45 and 9 mm, were legally purchased within the past month from a licensed dealer in Baltimore, Williams said. One had a laser sight attached to it.
“There is no indication this was something that he planned,” Williams said. “We have yet to have a concrete motive.”
Meanwhile, Crews has hired lawyers to investigate possible legal action. He is represented by Steven Swickle of Steven Swickle, P.A. and Chris Royer of
Krupnick and Campbell in Fort Lauderdale, where he spoke about surviving the mass shooting.
Crews said he grew up in Miami Gardens and attended Miami Norland Senior High School. He has a 3-year-old son, his namesake. He aspires to be a professional video gamer, and said he has traveled to competitions around the country since he was 17.
“It depends on your skill set,” Crews said. “If you’re good enough, you can make a living.”
He recently worked at a warehouse to supplement his income.
And though he feels he was a better player when he was younger and had fewer responsibilities, “I still compete because I like to play still. That’s why I do it. I love it.”
Doctors have told him his left arm and hand should function normally. For now, his arm is in a sling. The wound hurts, and he will need physical therapy.
As for his heart and head, Crews said, “[That’s] not OK. It’s hard to deal with. Sleeping, sometimes you think you’re seeing lasers or things like that. It’s no good.”
He’s had nightmares since Sunday, whenever he tries to sleep.
“You hear the same sound, like a gun being shot and you wake up,” Crews said. Though he once played Madden games every day and can hold and press a console, he hasn’t picked one up since last weekend.
“I’ll eventually play again, yes,” Crews said. “I don’t know [when I’ll be ready.] I guess whenever I can get my mind together and be ready for it. I’m not sure how long [it will take].”