Florida Shooting Reaction

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-A loss for words.

The effect of that tragic shooting is being felt across the country today, and we went out to see how Columbus gamers are reacting.

The people we spoke to couldn’t believe that something like today’s shooting could happen.

“Shock and devastation it’s incomprehensible,” said Teresa a Columbus resident.

A feeling being felt by many after hearing about Sunday’s shooting.

It happened at a video game tournament at a mall in Florida.

“I was honestly shocked and a little bit mad because it’s giving games a really bad name and it shouldn’t do that because games have gotten people out of a lot of situations. It distracts them from what’s going on in the real world and let them actually enjoy their time, and the fact that some people are getting killed over it is sad,” said Alysann Simpson, a game store employee.

The gaming community is complex with gamers, connecting friendships all over the world.

Graham Young works at a video game store in Columbus.

He says as soon as heard the devastating news, he instantly checked on his friends.

“I’m in a group on Facebook where it’s a bunch of nerds together, and we span throughout the world, and they were slowly building it’s mostly Mississippi Alabama but there’s quite a few that live in Jacksonville, and that was my first thought was a check in on them,” said Young.

Many gamers are worried about how the shooting will influence the image of video games.

“Honestly, I think it may affect the parents the most. Letting the kids play games. It can go all the way back to parents. They might not let them play games because of it, because video games, it comes up again, video games make people violent, and in reality, they don’t they were playing a football game, and that happened,” said Simpson.

“I think it’s going to change the way tournaments are run especially the bigger ones in places like Florida where they’re going to have to increase security and maybe do even background checks on the players,” said Teresa.

“Honestly I just feel for the families of everyone that are involved it’s it’s just tragic,” said Young.

Simpson wants people to know gaming is a community and says she believes games shouldn’t be held in a bad light after this tragic incident.