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Three Fatalities Reported At Mass Shooting At Jacksonville Gaming Tournament

Source: Joe Raedle / Getty

Add a video game tournament to the growing list of places where you need to worry about being shot. Gamers expecting to compete for Madden bragging rights wound up fearing for their lives when a mass shooter opened fired on them while they were playing.

Yesterday (Aug. 26) at a Madden 19 gaming competition in Jacksonville, Fla., the setting quickly turned from fun to deadly. 24-year-old Baltimore resident, David Katz, who competed in the tournament, traded in his controller for a handgun and opened fire on the unsuspecting attendees and participants. Two people were killed and 11 others suffered injuries, nine of which were a direct result of the shooting and two others while fleeing the scene before Katz turned the gun on himself.

The entire ordeal was caught on the live streaming platform Twitch while viewers from across the world who were tuned in to see the best Madden players compete witnessed the carnage first hand.  Footage of the horrific moment can be viewed below and has made its rounds online. You can see a laser dot pointed at some of the players before the footage cuts off but audio of the shooter letting off multiple gunshots and people screaming in fear can still be heard.

Jacksonville authorities are still seeking a motive as to why Katz carried out the shooting but according to locals, this was a deadly case of “video game raging.” The term is used to describe players who either quit in a fury of anger or, in this tragic case, violently. Katz was reportedly upset he lost his game in the tournament, left and to go retrieve the firearm then returned to the venue before opening fire.

Local media outlets identified the two victims as Eli Clayton, 22, of Woodland Hills, Calif., and Taylor Robertson, 27, of Ballard, W. Va. Both men were competing in the tournament . Robertson, a husband and a father, was a professional gamer and won last year’s competition. Katz won the same Madden event the year prior.

Our “president” has yet to speak on the matter, but Florida Gov. Rick Scott visited the injured at a Jacksonville hospital Sunday night before speaking to the press.

“We have got to change, we’ve got to really stop and say to ourselves, ‘There’s something wrong. Why are young men willing to give up their lives? Or why don’t they value somebody else’s life? We’ve got to figure this out. We don’t ever want this to happen again.”

Scott didn’t give any details in regards to a proposed policy as he made his way to his motorcade. Don’t be shocked if there isn’t any, Scott is on his way out and is prepping for a run for a seat in the United States Senate. We expect nothing but thoughts and prayers and the blaming of video games, movies, and television instead of guns.

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty

Mass Shooter From Baltimore Kills 2, Himself At ‘Madden 19’ Tournament  was originally published on hiphopwired.com