A Chester County man pleaded guilty to murder after a ‘Fortnite’ game turned deadly

After a few beers and some cocaine, an argument over the video game Fortnite turned into real-life violence inside Holden Hoffsis’ Phoenixville home.

More than a year later, a tearful Hoffsis admitted to a Chester County judge that he accidentally killed a longtime friend who had been like a brother to him, and said he was ready to accept responsibility for his actions.

Hoffsis, 22, pleaded guilty Friday to third-degree murder in the 2024 death of Daniel Gray, 22, whom he shot once in the chest with a revolver. Chester County Judge Sarah B. Black sentenced Hoffsis to 12½ to 25 years in state prison.

In handing down that sentence, Black told Hoffsis it was significantly lower than it could have been, given the circumstances.

“This is a generous offer [from prosecutors], and is certainly not a life for a life,” Black said. “You essentially have to live two lives now, Mr. Hoffsis, one for yourself and for Daniel.”

Hoffsis, choking back emotion, apologized to Gray’s family and friends assembled in the courtroom. Not a day goes by, he said, where he doesn’t wish he could take back his actions from that night in November 2024.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to carry him with me and honor him every day that I live,” he said.

Hoffsis called 911 on Nov. 8, 2024, telling a dispatcher he had “accidentally shot his friend in the chest,” according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

When police arrived at Hoffsis’ home on Westhorpe Lane, they found Gray dead from a single gunshot wound.

Deputy District Attorney Nicole Morley said Friday that Gray and Hoffsis grew up together, and had planned to start a trucking business. Gray had recently returned to the area from Ohio, where he had lived with his uncle, to learn the trucking business and obtain his commercial driving license.

On the night of the shooting, Hoffsis told police that after drinking Angry Orchard hard ciders and doing cocaine, the two played Fortnite together.

(Fortnite, a popular video game created by Epic Games, is a battle royale-style shooter in which players compete to be the last person alive.)

While the two played, Hoffsis took his Colt Cobra .357 revolver out of a locked safe and was “handling it intermittently,” according to the affidavit.

Hoffsis told police he always kept his revolver near him for protection, and believed at the time that the top chamber of the revolver was unloaded.

When one round of Fortnite ended in their loss, Gray stormed over to Hoffsis and began arguing with him, the affidavit said.

Hoffsis, who had the revolver in his hand, stood up, pointed the gun at Gray’s chest and pulled the trigger. He told police he jokingly said “bang,” believing the chamber was empty.

It was not, and the fatal shot was fired.

Hoffsis’ attorney, Louis Busico, said Gray’s death “was a horrific accident that was reckless in nature, and both families are forever changed because of it.”

“This is a tragedy where no one wins,” he said. “These two young men were literally like brothers: They worked together, they lived together, they went to school together.

“So to say there was any animosity between these two men that caused this to happen is simply not true.”

Gray’s mother, Angela McMorris, told the judge she holds no hate in her heart for Hoffsis, a man she watched grow up. She said she cooked dinner for him days before her son’s death, telling them to keep an eye on each other.

“This took a lot from me, when I found out it was Holden,” McMorris said, her voice thick with emotion. “I told the officer he was lying, because there was no way it could be true.”

She said her son, one of seven, was killed just as he had hashed out a plan for his life, with his sights on a new career and plans for a wife and children.

“I want the court to know that I forgive [Hoffsis],” she said. “But it doesn’t change anything.”