Hostile from Gravitas Gaming robbed at gunpoint at the ESL EM Finals

UPDATE #1 - ESL statement released through GotFrag forums (end of this story).

UPDATE #2 - According to Fragbite.com, they booked their hotel two weeks before CeBit without problems, and without paying expensive fees.

UPDATE #3 - Jason Lake has posted a second update on the Complexity website

"Perhaps the issues at hand arose due to a lack of proper communication. American gamers simply were not aware that their lodging in Hannover would include living with local residents, often without any teammates accompanying them. Personally, I believe that the opportunity to be welcomed into the home of a nice German family is an amazing chance at experiencing the culture beyond traditional hotels and room service. However, not all international travelers share the same sentiment, and many gamers were very distressed to learn they would be staying apart from their teams with local citizens they were not familiar with."

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According to GotFrag.com (http://www.gotfrag.com/cs/story/43973/), Shaun "Hostile" Catron, Counter-Strike player for Gravitas Gaming, has been robbed at gunpoint at the Intel Extreme Masters event.

Catron was attacked by several men, recieving a bloody nose and his chin split wide open, as well as forcing him to hand over all of his money, iPhone and camera. Catron and teammate Thomas “thoMz” Garcia were returning to their housing area when four men approached them as they got out of their taxi. The men did not start trouble and peaceful words were exchanged between both parties. Catron went to the pub for a quick drink before heading back home, as Garcia decided to head back without him. As Catron exited the pub not more than a few minutes later, he was attacked by several men at gunpoint, shouting "shut the **** up, don't say a word or I'll ******* kill you."

In an interview with Winout.com (http://winout.net/index.php?page=view_article&id=240), Catron explains more of the situation concerning his attackers.

"we actually had a really friendly conversation before I walked over to the pub. That's why I really didn't expect anything to come from them. There really wasn't anybody around it was 1 AM. I was the last person to leave the pub. I was there for about 2 minutes flat. They actually all got in a taxi and left with a 5th person that came after the incident."

The owner of the ESL along with the police visited Catron in the hospital where a full report was taken. There are currently three leads on the attackers as they used Catron's iPhone to make several phone calls as well as getting a taxi on the main street of Hannover.

Catron has also commented on his unsafe living situations in Hannover.

"Lets be real what do you expect to happen when you put people in such bad areas. I kid you not, 3 different taxi drivers could not find where we are on a roadmap, the street was not even there. Do I blame ESL entirely for this incident? No. But splitting entire teams up into 3 different houses 3 miles apart from 1 another, as well as putting us in areas that ARE NOT SAFE, you be the judge for yourself. We bought a hotel room to get the f@$! out of the s@#$hole we were put in."

Matches for World of Warcraft have just started and no mention has been made of the incident on the website, stream, or released to any of the coverage websites.

Catron himself would like a response from ESL.

"who the hell they think they are housing these teams and players in such unsafe areas. Were no precautions ever taken? I know this isn't the first incident where someone at an event gets jumped in an unsafe part of town. I recall in 05 at ESWC when I was there one of the teams went through an unsafe part of town and got jumped. It's almost common sense... bad things happen in bad areas."

Complexity owner and team-manager Jason Lake has posted a comment on the GotFrag forums (http://www.gotfrag.com/cs/story/43973/?cpage=3 - top comment) regarding the matter, placing the blame on the event organizers, ESL.

"I'm not going to sit still on my "politically correct" post. I'm outraged by the way players were housed and transported in Hannover and will have much more to say about it later. All the details aren't in as of yet, but as of this moment I hold the event organizers responsible. Housing professional gamers in the homes of local residents (some in questionable neighborhoods) is not professional and is not accpetable. The community is owed some answers, and owed them soon.

Take care of our gamers. NO excuses."

According to ComplexityGaming.com (http://www.complexitygaming.com/index.php?c=news&id=543), at no point during the Extreme Masters discussions were players told of their housing situations. They have been contacted by his family who is outraged but felt it was best to stay off the record due to possible litigation against Extreme Masters.

More information will be posted as it comes.

UPDATE - ESL's Director of Community Management David "affentod" Hiltscher has released the following statement on GotFrag's forums (http://www.gotfrag.com/cs/story/43973/?cpage=5 - Comment #223):

"Hey all,

I'm here to shed some light on the allegations made here and elsewhere from the tournament organizer's perspective. First of all, everyone here is shocked that such a thing happened to hostile. Hannover is one of Germany's least dangerous cities, and police activity during CeBIT is very high. To put it bluntly, hostile had incredibly bad luck.

Especially if you take into consideration that the area where he and other teams are housed is a regular residential area. Being housed in private homes is a CeBIT tradition, as there are several hundred thousand people coming to Hannover for the trade fair. Hotel capacities are very low and hotel rooms are extremely pricey and also fully booked months in advance.

So all kinds of people stay in private houses, from company executives over staff and crew of all booths to pro gamers participating in the many tournaments here. Who ever has been to one of the previous tournaments at CeBIT like Masters I & II or SEC knows this. There is nothing unprofessional or dangerous about this fact, it's just normal for a giant trade fair like CeBIT.

We shuttle players from their residences to the fair in the morning and bring them back in the evening to make sure everybody gets where he needs to, and gets there safe. For all evening activities, whatever the starting point is, common sense is a requirement. Walking the street alone at night is risky in any major city.

All rooms are booked through an agency that guarantees a certain quality. All flats and houses are in quiet residential areas. We do not book rooms in bad neighborhoods.

We are very sorry to hear what happened to hostile, and our admins were the first to join him in the hospital. I understand, that hostile's statements come from a deep sense of injustice, but please keep in mind that we have no interest whatsoever to cause our star players any harm, and that we do anything in our power to keep them safe and happy during their stay in Germany.

We wish hostile a quick recovery from the shock and hope the police does its best to catch the people who did this.

If any of you have questions about this, go ahead and post them. I'll do my best to answer them."

According to Fragbite.com, they booked their hotel two weeks before CeBit without problems, and without paying expensive fees.

Sources:

First information on story, statement from Gravitas Gaming manager
Extensive interview with Shaun "Hostile" Catron regarding situation
Jason Lake's comment
Players not informed of housing conditions, Catron's family may start litigation against ESL
ESL's Director of Community Management David Hiltscher releases statement #223