ATLANTA — Atlanta Police are searching for a suspect who they say shot a man multiple times inside of a virtual reality bar overnight.
Officers were called to the Revery VR Bar on Monroe Drive around 2 a.m Saturday morning.
When they arrived at the scene they found 23-year-old Ezra Whitehead suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to the hospital and was listed in critical condition.
"He was involved in a dispute with several other males at the bar," APD Capt. William Ricker said.
The suspect left the scene.
Justin Gill spoke with 11Alive over the phone and tweeted that he was there when the shooting happened.
"I just heard a pop, and everybody went quiet for a second," he said.
It's a moment that was only made more nerve-racking given the current climate around the world.
"Dealing with all the active shooters that's been going on in recent times especially, like, even a couple of days ago with the mosque shooting in New Zealand," he said.
According to its website, Revery is the nation's first full bar to incorporate virtual reality technology.
Law enforcement expert Vincent Hill said that, sadly, people are in even more danger when they are in a virtual world.
"When you add the aspect of this virtual reality, where you put on these goggles, you can't really see what's going on," he said. "Your peripheral is now shot. You open yourself up to be a huge target."
Hill suggested tighter security to prevent a similar event from happening in the future.
"I mean, we saw it in Florida at a gaming convention where this individual went in and then shot a bunch of people," he said. "Again, their guards were down because they just thought they were there playing video games."
He also advised people to take a break from gaming to check their surroundings.
11Alive reached out to Revery and is still awaiting a response. In the meantime, anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact police.
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