A teenager armed with an axe and a knife, presumably influenced by a video game, injured five people in a bar in the Turkish city of Eskishehir, 230 kilometers west of Ankara, before being arrested by police.
The attack came after the suspect, identified by local media as Arda K., 18, also outfitted himself with a mask and bulletproof vest, mimicking the outfits used in the video game PUBG, in which players fight in a last man standing battle.
The five injured were taken to hospital, two of them in serious condition, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Dressed in combat gear, the young man also positioned himself at tram stops in the city, waiting for passengers. A police officer who was on his way to his place noticed the chaos and managed to arrest the suspect after a chase.
The teenager, who had no criminal record, is now in custody as part of a judicial investigation launched by the Eskishehir Chief Prosecutor’s Office, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc confirmed. According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, the teenager also live-streamed his attack through a camera attached to his helmet, and the footage went viral on social media.