GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay man is telling his story after he survived the Jacksonville mass shooting while being inside the building.
Kyle Reiderer was participating in the Madden Tournament when 24-year-old David Katz opened fire in the building.
Reiderer explains the scene immediately afterward.
“Everybody was just getting down and trying to take cover,” he says. “I had like four people laying on top of me.”
Looking back, he can’t believe how close he was to Katz.
“I mean I was playing a game in a corner like literally, it was ten feet from where the shooter was,” describes Reiderer.
Reiderer explains that he didn’t know what was happening once the gunfire started.
“I didn’t know what it was at first, it just sounded like a something popped or a balloon popped,” he says. “Then it just got really chaotic.”
One of the victims in the shooting was his teammate 27-year-old Taylor Robertson.
“He was just a really good guy,” explains Reiderer. “He had a newborn son, a wife, a great job.”
Reiderer says the outpouring of support from the Green Bay community is helping him cope with the loss of his friend and the traumatic experience.
He also plans to continue playing Madden video games going forward.
