美国国家公共电台 NPR Jacksonville Shooting Witness Recalls 'People Crying' And 'Running For Their Lives'

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

In Florida, a man opened fire during a video game tournament yesterday. Two people were killed, and at least nine others were wounded in this shooting before authorities 1 say the suspect shot himself. The suspect we're told was participating in the tournament, which featured the video game Madden Football.

One of the gamers who ran for safety was Ryen Aleman, who traveled to Florida to play in the tournament. He is now back home in Texas. I spoke 2 with him this morning and began by asking him to walk me through what happened yesterday.

RYEN ALEMAN: I was playing the game, the Madden game, with my opponent 3. And this happened behind us, like, when the shooting was occurring. So I heard a pop. And we have headphones on. And I take off my headphones and look to the left, and everybody started running. So what I did was I dropped down and crawled 4 to the restroom. And when I crawled to the restroom, like, the shooting was still occurring - like, multiple 5 shots. And I went inside the restroom. And I just stayed in there.

But like, I felt trapped. Like, if he comes in here and opens this door, then I'm just - I'm probably going to die 'cause there was no way of me running anywhere. So I guess, like, after, like, 25 or 30 shots, like, it had stopped. And I started hearing everybody, like, still running and crying and just saying, like, I'm shot; help me. At that time, I didn't know what to do. Like, I was still panicking. Like, I was - like, at that time I didn't know if the killer 6 was still alive or if he was - like, if he probably and was going to come back and start shooting everybody again.

So I just started panicking and panicking. And in my head, I was just saying, just run. Don't look anywhere else. Just try to get a taxi or something and just go straight to the airport. So that's what I did. I just opened the door, and I saw everybody running around. And I just started running to the closest taxi I seen. And I just went straight to the airport.

GREENE: Now, Ryen Aleman told me that he knew the two people who were killed.

ALEMAN: When you go to these tournaments, it's people from all around the, like, United States. And it's the top Madden competitors. Like, all we want to do is play against each other and, like, see where we're at against, like, the top Madden competitors. And, I mean, just that morning we're all just goofing 7 around, seeing, like, who's going to win it all, who's going to take it today. I mean, just to see him - just to see both of them pass away is - I mean, I don't understand.

GREENE: And are you doing OK? Are you getting help and support from people?

ALEMAN: Yeah, from family, friends.

GREENE: Well, we'll be thinking of you. I can't imagine going through something like this. And I know it takes a very long time to recover. So...

ALEMAN: Yeah.

GREENE: ...We'll be thinking of you. And thank you for talking to us.

ALEMAN: Thank you.

GREENE: That was Ryen Aleman, one of the gamers who ran for safety yesterday during that shooting in Jacksonville, Fla.