Yiliang Peng, though most will know him by his League of Legends (LoL) name, Doublelift is a household name when it comes to professional LoL players being in the league since 2011. According to Gamepedia, Peng was born in Mission Viejo, California in 1993, which makes him 24 years old at the time of this writing. Before he donned the famous Doublelift name Peng got his start in video games by using his older brother’s computer to play titles like Diablo 1 and StarCraft. Throughout his childhood Peng would get his brother’s old computer when he would buy another every few years. Recently, tragedy struck the Peng family when Doublelift’s older brother, the same one who gave him his start into gaming, was arrested for murdering their mother and severely injuring their father.
According to the Orange County Sherriff’s Office via their Twitter, deputies responded to a call, approximately 10:30PM, in San Juan Capistrano, California about a domestic disturbance and a man in the street wielding a knife. Deputies arrived a short time later to find 2 victims with stab wounds and a suspect attempting to flee. Yihong Peng, Doublelift’s brother, was arrested a short distance from the scene and the police recovered the suspected murder weapon, a knife next to the victims.
Wei Ping Peng, Doublelift’s mother, was pronounced dead at the scene due to the sustained knife wounds. She was 59 years old. Doublelift’s father was wounded and taken to the local hospital where he has since recovered.
According to KTLA, a local news station in California, the Orange County District Attorney’s office started the prosecution on April 2 and brought up everything that the sheriff’s office stated in the report. Furthermore, prosecutors accused Yihong of getting into a verbal argument with his parents and chasing them out into the street with a butcher knife. After the attacks Yihong then attempted to carjack a bystander sitting in his car. However, the driver was able to fight off Yihong, who was trying to stab him through the window, and escaped with minor injuries to his arms. The result of the court date on April 2 was Peng being charged with murder, attempted carjacking, as well as 2 attempted murder charges. Yihong could face 44 years to life in prison. No information on when his next court date is or motivation for why Yihong attacked his parents.
Yihong Peng’s Booking Photo (Courtesy of Orange County Sheriff’s Department)
The first thing that the world saw from Doublelift after the tragedy with his parents was from his Twitlonger post on 1 April.
“This weekend I received some terrible news. My older brother attacked both of my parents with a knife. As a result of this attack, my mom passed away and my dad was seriously hurt and is now recovering in hospital.
I'm still processing this news and joining up with my dad and little brother to make sure they're ok and the proper arrangements are being made. I'll likely be quiet on social media while I work through this. I hope you all understand and support me as you always have in the past.”
It was clear that his team and fans had one of the best LoL players in North America in their thoughts and prayers. In an interview after the NA LCS Spring Split Doublelift mentioned that members from his former team, Team Solo Mid, gave a lot of support to him as well. In the same interview Doublelift went on to answer a question about how he dealt with the tragic loss of his parents during the series. “I kinda of just crutched on my teammates a lot…whenever I started to think about it..I would, not in an attempt to runaway, but in an attempt to just be constructive with my time, I would not let this thing consume me …I would just channel my focus and energy on being closer to my teammates and practicing as hard as possible…”
Over Reddit, fans were showing their support, typing words of encouragement like, “wishing him with best.” Also on Reddit, fans were conveying that Doublelift’s older brother was an inspiration to him growing up as a kid and that his brother was also an advocate for him in regards to his parents letting him go to his first tournament.
With all this support Doublelift rose above the tragedy and the stress of the NA LCS Spring Split. Team Liquid with sheer determination and focus from Doublelift won out in the playoffs and beat 100 Thieves in the Final 3:0. Also during matches against Echo Fox and Cloud 9 Doublelift’s performance earned him “Player of the Series” in both. What’s next for the AD Carry? Well, it is unclear if he has any plans to spend time with his father, but we do know that Team Liquid will be getting ready for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Doublelift Celebrating Team Liquid’s Win In The NA LCS Spring Split 2018 (Yiliang Peng’s Twitter)
