Ryen Aleman, 25, was killed Sunday in a car crash near Corpus Christi, Texas
A Texas man who said he was given a second chance of life after surviving a mass shooting at video game tournament last month in Florida has died in a car crash.
Ryen Aleman, 25, was killed Sunday in a single-vehicle wreck near Corpus Christi, according to The Texas Department of Public Safety said.
Aleman was among the participants at a Madden NFL 19 tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 26 when a fellow gamer opened fire, killing two people.
At the time, Aleman had crawled into a bathroom with his gaming competitor and hid to escape the gunfire.
Spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt Nathan Brandley said Aleman lost control of his vehicle in the early hours of Sunday morning.
His car overturned and crashed into nearby railroad tracks.
Aleman was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the car. He was pronounced dead at the scene around 4am.
He lost control of his vehicle, flipping the car and was ejected, authorities say
Less than two weeks ago, Aleman wrote in a Facebook post ‘God gave me a second life’ after surviving last month’s mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida
In a Facebook post less than two weeks ago, Aleman shared a photo of him playing video games again after taking a break following the shooting.
‘Just enjoying what i love to do god gave me a second life and I’m enjoying it every single [minute],’ he wrote.
‘Nobody know [sic] when you can be gone just enjoy life and always do what you love.’
In an interview with NPR after the shooting, Aleman recalled his experience during the mass shooting.
‘I was praying. And I was saying, ”Don’t worry. Stay with me,”’ to his tournament competitor, with whom he was hiding in the bathroom during the gunfire.
The 24-year-old gunman David Katz, killed two people and wounded 11 others that day before taking his own life.
‘You could hear people crying,’ Aleman recalled. ‘You could hear people saying, ”I’m shot,” you can hear people tripping, trying to leave, scrambling everywhere, running for their lives.’
Aleman said he hid in the bathroom as David Katz opened fire, killing two and wounding 11
He escaped once the gunfire ceased – passing three bodies on the floor – and immediately hailed a cab to the airport to fly home to Texas.
‘On the plane ride coming back, it just kept rewinding in my head. It was very scary,’ he said.
Aleman’s heartbroken mother created a GoFundMe to pay for her son’s unexpected funeral costs.
‘He was a survivor of the Jacksonville shooting at the Madden tournament and we were beyond blessed that he was okay and still here with us, but not even a month later, our Lord decided to call him home,’ she wrote.’
His mother described Aleman as ‘the happiest, funny and most easy person to get along with’.
Authorities do not yet know what caused the car accident and it is still under investigation.
A Jacksonville Sheriff officer is pictured keeping the perimeter secure a day after the mass shooting