Inside the mind of mass-shooter Nate Crayler - Did "Garfield Kart" Drive Him To Commit his Crime?

Inside the mind of mass-shooter Nate Crayler - Did "Garfield Kart" Drive Him To Commit his Crime?

                                           Jay Racc, Daily Digital News! 01/04/2020


We've all heard the name Nate Crayler - The Mahogany Shooter. Last month on a casual Monday afternoon, Crayler wandered into the Mahogany Plaza on 21st street; armed with 2 handguns, an assault rifle and a dozen ammunition. He went on a deadly rampage through the plaza, firing rounds of ammunition into the terrified crowds of visitors. He killed 14 people, wounded 44 and ultimately took his own life in the end.

What could have motivated 19-year-old Nathan Crayler to commit such a horrendous action? When we spoke to those who knew him, they described a quiet, fun-loving boy who was a bit "shy" and "closed-off". But they were completely shocked by the actions of Crayler, claiming they never could have imagined him committing such a henious massacre.

We at Daily Digital News! decided to do some digging into the hidden life of Nathan Crayler, his mother Karen Crayler described him as "obsessed with the internet" and "spending all of his free time online". So we know that it's possible he could have found a motivation to kill people on the internet, we took our searchings online and did a background check of Crayler.

We started looking for certain patterns that could have been red flags he was a mass shooter. Did he play violent video games? Did he have associations with the hacker 4chan or 8chan? Did he identify as far-right? Did he have a girlfriend or get laid? Was he known to use the phrase "soyboy"?

As we digged into his digital footprint, we were surprised to see his online behaviors were fairly normal and not raised for concern. He had many mediums for social media; Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and an older YouTube channel with "Call of Duty" walkthroughs, maybe it was Call of Duty that influenced his shooting?

We found a Steam account (Steam being a popular video game distribution application) associated with Nathan Crayler, it was fairly blank. However, his gaming history showed that he played over 20 hours on a game called "Garfield Kart". 

                                               Garfield Kart, screenshot

Did Garfield Kart influence a mass shooting?

Garfield Kart is a game based off the famous cartoon/comic strip called "Garfield" about a fat orange cat named "Garfield" who lives with his owner, Jon Arbuckle and his dog "Odie". Garfield is lazy, sarcastic and cynical. He hates lasagna and mondays.

This video game is a combative racing game with the characters from Garfield; Garfield, Jon and Odie engaging in a go-kart race. Now the question is, how does this game connect to Nate Crayler and the Mahogany shooting?

First of all, this is a racing go-kart game; with cars in it. Nate Crayler drove a car to commit his mass-shooting. Also, Garfield says he hates Mondays; what day did this mass-shooting happen on? That's right, a Monday. Let's take a look at Garfield's character; Garfield is cynical, cranky, semi-hostile and gives off an aggressive vibe. Do you think Garfield's character could lead to a person committing a mass shooting? Maybe it was Garfield's hatred and negativity that drove a 19-year-old to buy a bunch of guns and kill people.

I think the biggest takeaway from all of this is that we need to be careful, we should really look into Garfield Kart and make sure this video game doesn't cause another young man to commit a heinous crime.